


I'm In If You Are

by Super_Danvers



Category: Humans (TV), Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alex Danvers & Kara Danvers Aren't Sisters, Alex Danvers & Lena Luthor Friendship, Endgame Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer, F/F, Protective Alex Danvers, Sanvers - Freeform, Sanvers Big Bang 2020, Sanvers Endgame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:02:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 30,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27004777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Super_Danvers/pseuds/Super_Danvers
Summary: After the creation of A.I humans known as ‘synths’, Alex Danvers finds her world changed upside down almost overnight.
Relationships: Alex Danvers & Eliza Danvers, Alex Danvers & Kara Danvers, Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer, Eliza Danvers & Kara Danvers, Kara Danvers & Winn Schott Jr.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 43
Collections: Sanvers Big Bang | 2020





	I'm In If You Are

**_SANVERS_ **

**_“Because to me, she is human.”_ **

_“Get out of here! Run!”_

_The woman’s boots pounded over the wasteland as she made her sprint for freedom. Her heart rammed against her chest as if it were trying to break her ribs and leap right out of her body. Boom, boom, boom. Her dark hair, tied back in a ponytail, flew out behind her as she ducked and dodged her surroundings as much as possible. Bullets were flying all around her, kicking up the dust and putting holes in the concrete pillars she hid behind. It had to be said, this wasn’t any ordinary woman. Granted, she looked like one. She had beautifully tanned skin, dimples embedded into her cheeks, and her hair was the same colour as dark chocolate. Her eyes were a verdant green, and shone brightly under any light. However, this woman was not normal, nowhere near._

_Another shot rang out, and the bullet narrowly missed her head. She ducked back behind the pillar, and made another run for it. Her goal, should she achieve it, was to get from the wasteland to the outskirts of National City, to the city train lines. Hopefully from there she’d be able to jump on one of the passing cargo trains and escape her attackers. She had her orders, and she was going to obey them._

_As the woman dived over another dust dune, the gunfire lit up the night again. Bullets ricocheted off the stone walls, buried themselves in sand, and pinged off the metal railway that towered metres above them. One lodged in the woman’s hand, and she cried out in pain as it sent a lightning bolt of agony up her arm. Blue fluid splattered the ground and her boots and her hands as she tried to stop it, but nothing made much use._

_Knowing they were getting closer, the brunette pressed on, hissing as she held her hand tighter and tighter. She knew it wouldn’t be long before the damage would start affecting the rest of her systems, and she’d need to reboot soon. Behind her, there was a squeal of rubber and a flashing of headlights that nearly blinded her when she looked at them. A Humvee three times the size of a normal car was screaming towards her faster than any animal ever could. The woman covered her dazzled eyes, and kept trying to run, but the monster of a vehicle caught up to her before she could even get three metres._

_A door opened and something or someone grabbed her from behind; she couldn’t see their faces. They pinned her to the ground in a rugby tackle, and violently twisted her bad arm behind her back. The woman screamed out in agony._

_“Let go of me!” She pleaded as a hand gripped the back of her neck as if she were a stray dog. It shoved her head into the dirt, making her cough and choke on it. “Please, let go!”_

_An odd, distorted voice, presumably the owner of the hand, spoke through the darkness. “Turn that dolly off, someone’ll hear us.” It wasn’t clear what the gender of the speaker was._

_The woman struggled against her captors, kicking uselessly at the dirt and scratching into the darkness, but it made no use. A cold hand ducked under her chin and pulled it up roughly. It smelled of a musty liquor store and the scent of it filled her nose. The index finger pressed against the skin under her jaw and the woman was powerless to resist. Her body fell limp, her eyes closed, and her mind went blank. As everything faded to black, the woman felt her attackers take a hold of her damaged hands and feet and start to lift her into the Humvee. Her eyes cast to her escape and she whispered in a quiet voice so that nobody would hear her:_

_“No.”_

**_+_ **

“We don’t need a synthetic, Kara.”

Alexandra Danvers didn’t look up from her bio book as her sister waved the leaflet in front of her glasses. She’d heard the idea twenty times before, and would probably hear twenty more times in the coming weeks – but that wasn’t going to change her mind. After the eighth time, Alex had practically trained her brain to drown out Kara’s ramblings on synthetics.

Synthetics, also known as ‘synths’, were the product of Dr. David Elster’s experiment twenty or so years ago. The experiment, in itself, was to create artificial intelligence in the form of living, breathing human-like machines. The synthetics were to act as helpers to humans, carrying out tasks they themselves couldn’t do, or couldn’t do as efficiently. Shopping, factory jobs, looking after children, that sort of thing. They looked the same as most humans do: with legs and arms, eyes and ears, mouth and a nose. Their eyes were a bright emerald green to signify their difference to regular humans, and were a teal blue for those that were unbonded to a primary user. These days, they were everywhere. Acting in all non-human-required jobs – mostly known as NHR’s – and generally aiding the human society. Most households had one, just to keep up housekeeping or to look after children. Some people had them for other things that Alex didn’t like to think about.

Alex had no strong bias towards synths. On one hand, she despised that they often put actual people out of jobs that they needed so desperately. On the other, medical care was managed a great deal better, and the world didn’t look nearly so dirty. Alex slipped amongst them with no intention to change the world, nor to embrace the one they lived in.

“Oh please, Alex, please!” Kara protested, shoving the leaflet in front of her again. She tapped on Alex’s book annoyingly, so her sister glared up at her.

“No. We don’t need one.”

“Yes we do, and - are you alright? You don’t look very well.” Kara indicated to Alex’s wonky glasses and messy hair. “You look _ill_.”

Alex knew she should’ve shut herself up in her bedroom to study instead of doing it in the kitchen. If she’d gone to bed, Kara wouldn’t come in to annoy her or try to convince her for what felt like the millionth time to get a synth. However, she’d gotten distracted and grabbed herself studying snacks so was therefore, in the kitchen at the time Kara got back from her own studies.

“I’m fine. I don’t understand what your obsession with synths are. They’re just robots.”

Kara dropped her backpack on their dining table and sat at the stool opposite Alex’s. “They’re not just machines, Alex. It’s artificial intelligence. They make people’s lives better. They help us.”

“Just because they help people carry their shopping doesn’t mean they make their lives better. Besides, we don’t have anything we need help with so nothing a synth can do will change anything.” Alex took the leaflet out of her book and slid it across the island to her sister. “So, drop it.”

Kara looked annoyed. “How can you say we don’t need help when-“

“I said, _drop it_.” Alex’s tone wasn’t nasty, but it was firm enough to shut her sister up. The two sat in an awkward silence until the ping of the microwave went off. Alex retrieved her food and gathered her books. She didn’t say a word as she left the kitchen, walked down the corridor. “Dinner’s at seven, alright?” She called over shoulder as she disappeared into her bedroom.

Kara didn’t reply, only collected herself and left the apartment.

Alex picked at the warm food in her hands as she shut her bedroom door behind her. It was porridge, so nothing special, but it helped her focus on her books. She set it down on the desk along with her books and left it there to cool for a minute while she poked the person in the bunk opposite hers.

“Mom? Mom, I’ve got your dinner here. Are you going to wake up?” Alex murmured gently.

A head of mussed, ashy blonde hair poked out from underneath the duvet. Two baby blue eyes, the same as Kara’s, gazed up at Alex with a vague misty expression. Eliza Danvers was a different woman to the one she’d been ten years ago, that could be said by anyone who might’ve had the rare chance of seeing her. Once one of the pioneers of the synthetic revolution and the glam girl for all things gadget, Eliza Danvers’ reputation now remained solidly under a rock, much like her mental lucidity.

“C’mon, up you get.” Alex helped her mother to sit up with the duvet around her shoulders. She put the pillow on her lap and then retrieved the bowl of porridge from the desk. “Careful, it’s hot.”

Once the bowl was set in her lap, Eliza slowly reached for the spoon. Her hands shook slightly, a movement that she noticed and Alex pretended she didn’t. The spoon clattered from her grasp, and onto the floor. Eliza made a noise of frustration, too tired to make conversation, but Alex patiently picked it up, cleaned it on her sleeve and handed it back to her mother.

“You’ve got it.”

Eliza gazed at her daughter with her big, sad blue eyes. A look seemed to flicker in them, as if she couldn’t decide whether to throw the spoon down in frustration or to thank Alex for her help. It seemed to be the latter because she made another noise that sounded like she was grateful for her recovered spoon.

As soon as her mother had managed a successful mouthful of porridge, Alex crossed the room and sat at her desk. “Kara’s been talking about getting a synthetic again.” She paused, waiting for the spoon to angrily clatter to the floor again, but it didn’t. “I told her no.”

Eliza didn’t say anything, only tried to minimise her tremoring as she lifted the spoon from her bowel to her mouth. A few moments pass, she manages the mouthful of porridge and then sets the spoon back into the bowl. “Hot.” She mumbles.

It’s neither approving or disapproving, and the statement tickles Alex. She doesn’t laugh, because she knows her mother hates being laughed at _or_ with. Instead, Alex whirls in the chair to face her.

“What should I do about Kara?”

Eliza looked at her vaguely. “You look…tired.”

“I’m fine. What do I do about Kara?”

Her mother returned to her porridge as if she hadn’t heard the question. Alex sighed, and went back to her books. Eliza had a habit of doing that, just saying what popped into her head whenever it did and rarely registering much else. On some occasions it was quite funny to hear her mother telling some random woman in the grocery store that her dress looked like the stick of celery she’d been holding in her hand but on other times, Alex just wanted to curl up in a ball and let the floor swallow her whole. The worst occasion had been when Eliza had somehow managed to make it down the road from a coffee shop and into Alex’s engineering lecture. She’d wandered in, and thankfully didn’t have much time to make too much of a raving scene because Alex escorted her out before she could reach her seat. After dealing with the reprimands of her professor and the disguised sniggers of her classmates, Alex had opted to study at home instead so she could keep an eye on her mother. It wasn’t as practical as she would’ve liked, but it was manageable.

Eliza set down her bowl on Alex’s desk and peered at her books from the bed. “How are your studies?”

“Good.”

“What are they again?”

Alex resisted sighing again, knowing it wasn’t her mother’s fault that she couldn’t remember. “Bio-engineering, Mom.”

“Oh, that’s nice.” Eliza murmured, gently patting Alex’s shoulder. She placed a small kiss to Alex’s shoulder and smiled. “You’re a clever girl.”

“Thank you.”

There was a long pause and it was almost as if somebody had pressed ‘reset’ in Eliza’s mind because she blinked a few times and then squinted at Alex. “What is it you do again?”

This time, Alex couldn’t help but sigh. She closed her eyes, counted to five, and opened them again. She put her pens back down and swivelled in her chair. “C’mon, Mom, why don’t you go back to bed, eh? Get some rest. Have a lie down.”

“Oh. Okay.”

With quiet patience, Alex helped her mother to turn over and lie down. She pulled the duvet back up to her chin and smoothed it around her shoulders. Eliza had a gentle hold of her wrist, and was making little circles on it with her index finger. Alex gave the same gesture. It seemed to be one of the only things Eliza could always remember, and made her relax. Alex didn’t know where she’d picked it up from, but she didn’t mind. If it got her to calm down, then it was Alex’s favourite gesture in the world.

“Is that alright?” She asked, adjusting Eliza’s pillow slightly. When the blonde nodded, Alex smiled. “Good. I’ll be right there if you need anything, okay?”

+

Over the next two hours, Alex must’ve either gotten bored of studying or the exhaustion set in because when she woke up with her face resting on her book, a good portion of the ink on the page had smudged into her cheek. It was dark in her bedroom and outside her window; she’d been asleep for a while. There were muffled voices coming from the hallway, so Alex guessed Kara must be having dinner with their mother. She wiped at her face with her sleeve.

As she walked down the hallway, Alex could hear another voice speaking. It was female, and from what Alex could hear, she spoke clearly and eloquently. Too eloquently. Alex entered the kitchen warily. Sat at the dining table, digging into plates of roast chicken, was Eliza, Kara and a woman that Alex didn’t recognise.

She was plain; dressed in a bland, blue dress with matching flat shoes. Her hair was a dark chocolate, and her eyes were an unusually bright green that looked up when she noticed Alex. An odd, automatic smile blinked onto her face at the new arrival, and dimples appeared on her cheeks. Her canines were like little fangs.

“Hello there.” The woman spoke in the clear, enunciated voice that Alex had heard in the hallway. It was strange to hear, somehow it was both soothing and plastic, almost fake. It didn’t speak with a strong accent either; it didn’t sound like it was from anywhere. The brunette blinked, too quickly and not at anybody in particular.

Kara beamed at her sister. “Alex! You’re awake!”

Alex barely heard her. She stared at the brunette, unsure what to feel about her presence. Eliza didn’t seem to have noticed Alex’s entrance, nor the tension in the room. She just sat, slowly eating her chicken with a shaking hand. Alex inhaled slowly, counted to ten, and then glared at her sister.

_“What is that?”_

Kara’s smile faltered, and her lips tightened as she tried to restore it. She gestured to the woman. “This is Maggie. She’s our synth.” Kara stood up, fumbling her hands nervously. “Maggie, this is my sister, Alex.”

The woman, Maggie, looked at Alex. “Hello Alex. My name is Maggie. Is there anything I can help you with?” Her head moved and a fabric frown appeared between her neatly threaded eyebrows. “It appears you have a substance on your cheek. I believe it to be…ink. Would you like me to remove it?”

Alex didn’t reply. She wiped her cheek with the back of her sleeve again, and glared darkly at her sister. Kara shifted from one foot to the other.

“I got her while you were asleep and-”

“Are you out of your mind?” Alex didn’t raise her voice, knowing that if she started shouting Eliza would get upset. Instead, she conveyed her anger through a hissed snarl. “Kara, we can’t afford a synth and _I told you_ that we don’t need one! Jesus Christ, how did you even buy one? They’re like, five thousand dollars.”

“There was a guy selling a few second-hand down by the CatCo building. They were cheaper.”

“For fucks sake.” Alex pinched her nose and sighed heavily. She wanted to scream. “So, not only did you buy a synth with Mom’s money, but you also got one that could be modded up to her ears with fuck knows what.”

“She’s not, I checked. She’s just a basic carer. Does household chores and stuff like that.”

“Oh, you’re an expert in hacking now, are you?”

“No, of course not but-“

“But _nothing_. For all we know, someone could’ve hacked her head and put a ‘kill all brain-damaged ladies’ code in there.”

“Don’t be so dramatic.”

Maggie rose from her seat, slowly and deliberately. She still had the strange smile plastered on her face. “I am detecting levels of anger and frustration in your body language, Alex. Is there anything I can do to help?”

Alex ignored her. “How could you be this stupid, Kara?”

“It’s hardly-“

“We can’t afford her!” Alex snarled. “How do you think we afford this apartment? Looking after Mom? Being able to go to school? There is a reason we are only just getting by!”

“Maggie can help with that! She can look after Mom, and we can hire her out to do part time jobs. She can bring money in for us.”

“That’s illegal! They’re not natural, Kara! Look at her! Engineered freak!” Alex shouted now. “She can’t help us. We were fine without her! I can look after Mom by myself, I don’t need you or any _synth’s_ help.”

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic!” Kara returned the ferocity. “How can you say that? Don’t think I haven’t seen the eviction threats, or the bills piling up in the gap behind the fridge, or your notices from the university. You’ve been failing for months now, and you haven’t mentioned it once! What was your plan? Let us get evicted, get expelled and then what? Start selling our bodies on the internet?”

“I was handling it!”

“Oh yeah, how? Making heart eyes at your bio professor as if she’s going to make all your problems disappear?” Kara snapped. Alex lunged to grab a hold of her sister’s hair, but she dodged backwards.

Eliza slammed her plate on the table, and shrieked unhappily. Her food went flying, both over the table and herself. _“…stop!”_

Both girls shut up. They glared at each other furiously, ready to break the silence again at any second. Instead, it was Maggie who spoke. “It seems you have spilt your food, Eliza.” Her head moved smoothly to look at Kara. “Would you like me to look after your mother, Kara?”

Kara nodded. “Yes, please, thank you Maggie.” She confirmed quietly. The two sisters watched as Maggie gently sat beside Eliza and helped to pick the chicken off of her clothing. She did it slowly and made sure to let Eliza know what she was doing, as if she were working with a frightened cat. Eliza didn’t respond, only stared off into space as if nothing had happened. Kara smiled at the gesture. “See, Alex? She’s good with Mom.”

Alex scowled, and shook her head. “Wait until Mom has an actual episode, one where she’s convinced she’s the next Hilary Clinton and she’s just won the election, then we’ll see how great she is.” She strode past Kara and plucked her coat and bag off of the hook on the back of the door.

“What are – “

“I’m going to go and stay at Winn’s.” She paused in the doorway to glare at her sister, then to Maggie. “-and _that_ had better be gone when I get back.”

As Alex slammed the door behind her, there was a niggling feeling at the back of her mind that felt as if she were being followed out of the building by two, bright green eyes.

+

Winn Schott Jr. was a good friend of Alex’s. Probably her only friend, but they didn’t mention that. Like Alex, Winn was a student at the National City University, but he specialised in computing as opposed to her bio-engineering degree and although they were in different classes, the pair worked together quite often. Winn listened patiently whenever Alex needed to vent about her sister, and Alex always gave Winn a place to stay when he wanted to be away from his father’s booming voice. These roles switched around quite often, not that either of them minded, it was just the way it was.

Alex texted that she’d be coming over for the night, and Winn had responded that she needed to come in around the basement window, so that meant his dad was on the prowl. Winslow Schott Sr. wasn’t a nice man, from what Alex had experienced. He was loud, constantly stank of beer, and spent way too much time in a room that neither Winn nor his mother were allowed into. She didn’t trust the oddly nice façade he put up when she was around either, so she steered clear.

Alex rapped her knuckles quietly on the basement window of the Schott house. Winn lived in a quiet neighbourhood and Alex didn’t want Neighbourhood Watch on her ass if she got spotted crawling through a ground level window. A clump of messy brown hair appeared in the frame as Winn opened the window for her.

“Hey, Danvers.” He greeted warmly, taking her bag for her so she could squeeze in without any extra struggle. He tossed it onto his desk. “I’ve got tea on, want some?”

“No.” Alex grunted as she slipped through the window. “- and I’ve told you not to call me that.”

She exhaled as her feet touched the floor. She loved Winn’s house. There were movie posters on the paint-thinning walls, and all sorts of nerdy action figures and comics lined his shelves that Alex could spend days reading through. There was a couch in the middle that was probably older than Winn and Alex combined, but they fondly remembered sneaking it into the house after they’d fished it out of a dumpster two years ago. It was almost comfier than Alex’s own bed, and Winn didn’t snore like Eliza did. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for her.

Winn rolled his eyes and flopped down into his desk chair. “But it’s such a good nickname. It suits you. Grumpy, and reserved, but cool.” He pointed out. Alex shook her head and breathed out a loud sigh as she dropped face-down onto his couch. Winn raised an eyebrow. “What’s the matter with you?”

_“Kara.”_

“Again?”

Alex groaned and flipped onto her back to face the ceiling. “Why can’t she understand that when I say no, I mean it? When I say no, does she hear yes?”

“Why? What has she done now?” Winn pulled his legs up to his chair. “Dropped out of class? Bought a car? Blinked?”

Alex glared at him. “That’s not funny.”

Winn snorted. “You know I think you’re too hard on her.”

“She’s bought a synth, Winn.”

There was quiet for a minute. Winn let out a low whistle. “Then again, what does it matter what I think?” He leaned over his desk and took a drink from his mug of tea. “What is it?”

“Basic carer level that she got from some guy near CatCo. It’s called Maggie.” Alex scoffed. “It’s just all so _weird._ ”

Winn shrugged. “I don’t know, I think they’re quite cool. I wish we had one.” Alex frowned at his comment, but he just shrugged again. “They can do jobs that some humans can’t, or if they can, they do it a lot more efficiently. They can help little old ladies carry their shopping, they can pack groceries, and pick rubbish off the freeway.”

“But don’t you think that’s unnecessary? There are so many people who would kill for jobs like that; people who need the money for their families and can’t afford synths. People who have escaped war in their own countries to make a new life here. Synths plunging our country into more and more poverty. Why invent synths when we have bigger problems? There’s wars and famines still going on that we need to solve.”

Winn was quiet. “Yeah, you have a point there, I suppose.” He mumbled. “Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I know, but I’m still sorry.”

Alex’s eyes looked back at the ceiling. She drummed her knuckles together in silence, thinking to herself about what she was going to do now. Kara wasn’t going to get rid of Maggie, and Eliza wasn’t going to be getting any better any time soon. Alex couldn’t afford to move out, and she also couldn’t afford to drop out of university. She didn’t want a slave in the house either. Alex groaned and put her hands to her face.

“This is all so fucked.” She muttered, shaking her head.

Winn put his drink down and plopped onto the couch beside her. He leaned down and handed her a game controller. It had a small ‘A’ scratched into it. “Wanna play Smash Bros?”

Alex breathed a laugh of relief. “More than anything.” She took the controller and leaned back as Winn set up the game. It was one of the reasons she valued Winn’s friendship so much: she didn’t have to be anyone else apart from herself with him. She didn’t have to be someone’s carer, or someone’s sister, or even someone’s shoulder to cry on. With Winn, she could just be.

Alex had thought about Winn romantically, and regretted it immediately. It had only been a split second of a thought, but it was long enough for Alex to ponder going to therapy afterwards. That wasn’t to say Winn repulsed her but there was something about dating in general that made her nose turn up and her innards curl. After she’d taken her shirt off for Freddie Jones in her senior year and he’d told her that her breasts were ‘cutely average’, she’d decided both dating and Freddie weren’t for her.

Alex had no fears of being alone, because she knew love came in lots of different forms. She liked to look at it as if it were one of her books. Some were a quick read, others lasted a lifetime, and some just didn’t deserve her reading after its third chapter. Alex treasured the books she could learn from and the ones she didn’t, she shelved.

“Did you see the new girl today?” Winn asked through her train of thought. “She’s on computing too.”

“Hm?”

“The new girl, Sophie Wilde. She’s on my course.” He repeated, still keeping his eyes on the game. “James was telling me to go for her.”

Alex rolled her eyes. “Go for her.” She echoed and elbowed him disapprovingly. “Jesus, Winn, why can’t you just say _ask her out_ like a normal person. Do you even know her?”

Winn shrugged off her disapproval. “No, but we have computers in common so she’s already my dream girl. Just thinking about how she knows what a RAM and a Nybble is makes me feel better.” He grinned.

Alex laughed and shook her head. “You’re awful.” She gave a small smirk and then, after a quick pressing of buttons, swiped Winn’s character out from underneath them. She pretended not to hear his losing complaints as she claimed her prize.

+

Winn accompanied Alex to university the next morning. He’d let her sleep in – which she wasn’t happy about – but he made up for it in buying her breakfast as soon as they hit the campus coffee shop. Once Alex had a coffee and a croissant in her stomach, she was significantly less grouchy about her early morning and about the twenty missed calls from Kara.

“Do you wanna grub lunch later?” Winn asked as they entered the main building and prepared to part ways. His department was on the fourth floor and Alex’s lecture was on a different part of the first so they didn’t get to see much of each other.

“Sure thing. Meet back here?”

Winn nodded and headed for the elevator, waving her off over his shoulder. Before Alex could start for her own class, another voice was calling her. This one was annoyingly familiar.

“Alex! Alex, _wait!_ ”

Alex sighed and looked behind her. Kara, in all her annoyingly busy glory, was hurrying towards her with Maggie in tow. The tiny woman was patiently carrying a stack of books in her arms, presumably the study ones Alex had left on her desk the night before. Once Kara had reached her sister, she adjusted her glasses and let out a puff of hot air. Alex raised an eyebrow.

“Did you run here?”

“Yes!” Kara said breathlessly, swallowing another lungful of air. She adjusted her glasses again. “You haven’t been answering my calls.”

“I’ve been ignoring you.”

Kara looked a little hurt, but she brushed it off. “Well, you forgot your books. And your phone charger.” She nodded to the items in Maggie’s arms. “So, we brought them to you and I thought maybe we could go to lunch and talk about-“

Alex held up a dismissive hand. “First of all, I have lunch with Winn. Second, if you and…her are here, where’s Mom? You know you can’t leave her alone, she’ll –“

“She’s in bed. I was just showing Maggie where your class is so the next time you run off and forget your books, she can bring them to you and I won’t have to leave Mom alone on my day off.” Kara folded her arms and made the I-know-I’m-right-face that Alex always hated.

Alex glared at her. “Go home. Take your…machine with you.”

“Actually, I thought – seeing as it’s my day off – I’d leave Maggie here with you so you two can get to know each other. Maggie can hardly look after your things if she doesn’t know you, right?”

“It’s not me she has to look after.” Alex sulked.

“Hm, the cereal bowls on your desk beg to differ.” Kara pointed out. She gestured to Maggie to stand beside Alex. “Maggie, are you alright to stay with Alex for the day? Don’t let her lose you in a street or push you off a building or something.”

“We will be perfectly fine, Kara.” Maggie responded. Her head turned and she smiled at Alex.

Kara looked between the two before nodding. “Right, good. I’ll see you after school. Please don’t damage Maggie or anything horrible like that. I love you.”

Alex grimaced as Kara placed a kiss to her cheek. “Yeah…love you too.”

“I mean it, Alex. Please don’t be mean to her.”

Alex rolled her eyes. “She’s a machine, Kara. She can’t feel.”

“Alex is right, Kara.” Maggie piped up. “I cannot feel therefore, I cannot be offended.”

Kara looked between them again, seemingly pondering whether or not it was a good decision to leave them together. After a moment, she shook her head and refreshed her smile. “I’ll see you after school.”

Alex watched Kara leave, noticing how instead of going to the exit, her sister went towards the elevator Winn had just disappeared into. Maggie seemed to notice this too, but didn’t say anything. Instead she just smiled at Alex again.

“Should we go to your first class?”

Alex glanced around. It wasn’t particularly busy for a Friday morning. In fact, most of the people around her were made up of worker synths. There were three on reception, about a dozen as cleaners and even some of the professors were synthetic. Alex was glad she didn’t have any of them. One of her favourite professors had been replaced with a synth a few weeks ago so now she harboured an extra grudge against the things. There was one stood near here now, and seemed to have taken notice of her staring. As it started to approach, Alex made her escape by heading to class. Having one synth hang around her was enough.

There was someone in her seat when she got there. Alex liked to sit at the back, in the right-hand corner so that nobody would kick the back of her seat or peer over her shoulder at her notes. Plus, it was right under the air conditioning. Alex liked the seat so much that it was now designated Her seat. So, when she discovered a different she was sat right in it, she wasn’t best pleased.

“That’s my seat.”

The ‘she’ in question was a girl maybe two or three years younger than Alex. She had freckled pale skin, with long red hair that had been plaited down her back and ended between her shoulder blades. Her face was slim with a strong jaw that made her look quite intimidating, despite being sat down. She was dressed in a black dress that showed off a small waist and defined arms. Despite her tough appearance, the girl had these big, baby blue eyes that looked a little like Kara’s. They blinked at Alex and Maggie behind a pair of thickly framed glasses.

“Sorry?” She spoke in a strong accent that took Alex a second to comprehend.

“That’s my seat.” Alex repeated. She wasn’t really in the mood to argue with this girl, but it seemed _she_ was.

“What do you mean?”

Alex’s frown deepened. _What else could she possibly mean?_ “The seat you’re sat in. It’s mine.”

“Why can’t you just sit there?” The girl gestured to the empty seat beside her with her pencil. “I don’t mind company.”

Alex wanted to grab the girl by her jacket and haul her out of the chair, but she was too tired to make any protest so she just quietly sat down beside her. She had no energy to explain that she’d been sat in that seat for the past year for the sole purpose of _not_ having company and it had suited her perfectly. Maggie remained standing, and the redhead noticed. She frowned.

“Doesn’t your friend want a chair?”

“She’s a synthetic. She doesn’t need one.” Alex replied as she pulled out her laptop and set it on the table.

The girl shrugged. “Still, she’ll damage her legs stood up like that for two hours.” She leaned forward and turned to Maggie. “Why don’t you just sit down there, love?”

Maggie looked at the redhead. “I am sorry, but you are not my primary or secondary user. I can only accept instructions from these parties.”

“That makes her sound like a slave.”

Alex scoffed. “Tell me about it. They’re slaves without feelings.” She could feel the girl’s eyes on her so she indicated to the empty seat beside her. “You can sit here, Maggie.”

Maggie sat and the redhead scoffed. She shook her head, but stuck her hand out. “ _Maggie_ : that’s a nice name. I’m Sophie.”

Alex knew that name: Winn had mentioned it last night. She frowned. “You’re the new girl. I thought you were on computing.”

The girl, Sophie, smirked. “Yeah, I am. I take this class as a secondary. Synth coding is just there for credit too.” She looked around the hall. “I’m not some one trick pony.”

Alex’s eyes nearly boggled out of her head. “You take computing as your primary, and _bio-engineering_ as your secondary?”

Sophie shrugged. “Like it’s _hard_.” Her hand was still offered out to Alex’s. “What’s your name again? I’m Sophie, in case you forgot with your primary engineering brain.”

Alex already didn’t like this girl. She was snarky, and a know-it-all, one of the worst kind of people in Alex’s opinion even if she was one too. Alex hated being friendly with people that reminded her too much of herself. Nevertheless, she shook Sophie’s hand.

“And mine isn’t. You seem to like your name a lot, Sophie.”

Sophie retracted her hand. “Oh yeah? What makes you say that?”

“Because you say it a lot. You don’t seem to stop talking much altogether.” Alex muttered in response. She was getting tired again: that coffee hadn’t done much for her energy levels.

Sophie could sense the bite and rose to Alex’s challenge. “Hm, you have a point there. But I suppose I’d rather be a narcissist than a hypocrite.”

“I’m not a hypocrite.”

“Oh, _sure_.” Sophie’s voice dripped with sarcasm as she pointed to Maggie. “You don’t like synths yet you’ve got your own little pet following you around like a stray dog.”

Maggie’s green eyes had been staring forward at the rest of the hall until now. Although her head didn’t turn, her eyes moved to look at Sophie. Alex didn’t notice.

“She’s not mine. What are you? One of those _‘Synths Rights’_ activists?”

“I don’t think it really matters if I am or not. She belongs to you, right?”

“My sister bought her.”

“Exactly. _Bought_ her. She owns her, and now she lives with you, so you own her too.” Sophie twirled her pencil between her fingers. The two were becoming so engrossed in their conversation that neither of them noticed the professor entering the hall. They also hadn’t noticed that their debate was becoming louder and louder with each exchange between them. “Tell me, why’d your sister buy her?”

“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

Sophie snorted. “Is she not getting any? Does she need a helping hand?”

Alex cringed. “That’s gross.”

“That’s guys. I’ve seen the brothels.” Sophie laughed at Alex’s disgust. “What I mean is, why did your sister feel the need to buy a living person?”

“They’re not living people. They don’t have conscious thought. They’re just robots.”

“Robots who can sense what we’re feeling. They know when we’re happy, when we’re sad, when we’re hurt-“

“Because they’re _programmed_ to.”

Sophie twirled her pencil again. This debate seemed to excite her because she kept fidgeting in her – in _Alex’s_ – seat. “But they’re supposed to be shit at it! We’ve had programmes like Siri and Alexa for years and they’ve always been crap at sensing emotion or reading a situation but synths can do it _perfectly_!”

“Because technologies evolve!”

“Exactly! Technology has evolved to create life in its own species. Don’t you think it’s wrong to enslave that?”

“Of course, but they’re not people.”

“How are they not people?”

“You’re back to your original point.” Alex snapped. She was increasingly tired of this conversation, especially at this time in the morning and with a complete stranger. “You may have two fancy subjects under your belt, but you’re a complete moron.”

“And you’re a hypocrite.” Sophie replied.

Alex raised her chin. She tried to hide her flaring nostrils and the redness that was coming to her cheeks. “You don’t know a _thing_ about me.” She snarled. Her mind was begging her to count to ten, maybe a take a breather, because she knew she couldn’t let someone who didn’t matter get to her. “You just met me so I don’t know what you think you’re playing at with this thinking you know me bullshit. I’d recommend you stop and think about what you’re actually doing before you end up regretting it. Something also suggests to me that you’re not actually a student here, not with a big mouth and big questions you’re spouting to people you don’t know.”

To Alex’s surprise, Sophie actually looked taken aback by her words, frightened almost. Her eyes had widened and she’d leaned back in her seat. Alex frowned at her expression, noticing she wasn’t staring at her but above her. She looked behind her. Maggie had stood up and was now towering above Alex with a stern expression on her face. She had this odd look that made it seem as if she were glaring at Sophie with daggers. Her hand was on Alex’s shoulder.

The professor was staring at them, along with the rest of the class. Alex didn’t notice them; she was too busy looking up at Maggie in confusion. Although the synth wasn’t very tall, her eyes made her look quite intimidating; like she could pounce at any minute.

“Maggie?” Alex spoke quietly.

Maggie’s face cleared, and she focused on Alex’s voice. Her hand left her shoulder. “I am detecting levels of anger and frustration through your heart rate, Alex. Is there anything I can do to help?”

Alex didn’t know what to say. There was so much going on in this moment that shouldn’t be. Maggie shouldn’t be touching her shoulder. She glanced at Maggie’s hand, the one that’d just left her shoulder. Synths weren’t meant to touch anyone, not even children, if they didn’t have direct permission from their primary user: which in this case, was Kara.

The professor came up the stairs with a face of thunder. “If you ladies can’t keep your issues to yourselves, I suggest you leave and come back to this class once you’ve figured it all out.”

Alex’s frown deepened. “But-“

“That is not a request, Miss Danvers.” Her professor fumed. “By your report standards, you should be grateful I’m _only_ kicking you out of class.”

The entirety of the class were staring. Alex’s cheeks burned red in embarrassment and in a hurry to get away, she made a desperate grab for her things and ran out of the hall. She felt every pair of eyes bearing holes into her back as she rushed out. Over the past year, she’d maintained a reputation of being one of the best students and also being one of the quietest: and now she’d broken that over an argument with a complete nobody.

Alex didn’t know what was wrong with her. She was so short-tempered these days; everything pissed her off. Kara, Mom, some shitdick in class, everyone. Alex escaped class with what was left of her dignity, managing to make it out of the building before collapsing onto a bench. In her hurry, she’d forgotten her laptop and two of her books. Alex ran an exasperated hand through her hair.

“Fuck!” She wanted to cry. She wanted to go and find a dark room so she could scream and cry and take ten minutes to just calm down. “Fuck.” She repeated, ignoring the looks she got from passing students.

“Alex? Are you alright?” Maggie appeared at the end of the bench. She had Alex’s forgotten books and laptop in her arms.

Alex wiped her damp eyes with the back of her sleeve. “Oh…um, yeah. I’m fine.” She took the books from her. “Thanks.”

Maggie sat beside her. “You seem a little upset. May I offer you some advice?”

Alex shoved her things into her bag. “No, I think I’ll be alright, thanks. I’m just going to-“

“From observation, I’ve noticed you are quick to anger and struggle to maintain a calm debate with your peers.” Maggie continued. “You’re also easily stressed and seem to find it difficult to keep a positive attitude.”

Alex let out a small laugh. “Are you saying I’m depressed?” Maggie didn’t respond to her banter. Alex’s smile wore down and she frowned. “How do you know that? Like, how did you come to that conclusion?”

“I did not suggest you have depression, Alex. I have known and studied your behaviour for approximately fourteen hours, twenty-two minutes and-“

“Yeah, I know. But what gave you that impression? Other than words, how did you know? What actually makes you think I’m depressed?” Alex pressed, fascinated by Maggie’s little judgement of her. Oddly, she didn’t feel attacked by it and she didn’t feel Maggie was completely wrong. Sophie’s words about synthetic conscious thought were rattling around in her brain.

Maggie didn’t frown, or make any indication of facial movement. “I don’t understand your question, Alex.”

Alex put her bag on the ground and sat closer to Maggie, close enough that their legs were touching. “Okay, look at it like this. What kind of day is it?”

On this particular morning, the fog had made way for a rare sun so for students who had a free first period: a lot were having their breakfast outdoors. Maggie looked up at the sky, across the grass, and then back to Alex. “It’s a pleasant day.”

Alex nodded. “Right, and how do you know that?”

“The sun is shining.” She pointed out. “-and…people are outside.”

Alex nodded again. “Okay, what tells you that’s a good thing? How do you associate that with something positive?” 

“Studies have found that good weather is a motive for humans to go outdoors.” Maggie replied. “Results show that it’s good weather such as sunshine and heat are the primary factor-“

“Not studies, Maggie. Studies are pieces of paper written by other people. What do _you_ feel?”

There was a long pause. Alex was almost willing for Maggie to prove her right, that synths couldn’t feel and couldn’t come to any conclusion without it being programmed into her hard drive. She watched the synthetic closely, waiting for any kind of body language to give something away. After what felt like forever, Maggie spoke again.

“I’m sorry, Alex. I’m afraid I do not understand the question.”

Alex heaved a long sigh, and ran her hand through her hair again. Her chest felt heavy, as if she were disappointed. She didn’t know why, because this was what she expected from Maggie. To not understand, to pull a blank and just not get it; but she still felt disappointed. Alex gathered her bag again and stood.

“C’mon, we’ll go to the library.” She muttered. Maggie nodded and fell into step behind her. As they walked, Alex started to wonder whether or not Maggie was as much as a burden as she’d led herself to believe.

+

Further up town, a few blocks from CatCo Media, stood one of the tallest buildings in National City. LuthorCorp was a sleek silver and shaped like a harp with a long, sweeping bow that glinted in the sun. It was a lame joke amongst surroundings businesses that the LutherCorp buildings had more windows than it had money, and it was a joke muttered amongst careful company because nobody wanted a lawsuit from the likes of the Luthors.

LuthorCorp was a family-run business, founded by the family’s patriarch, Lionel, about fifty years prior. People all over the globe knew who the Luthors were, so everybody in National City knew who they were. There was Lionel, who’d died of illness about fifteen or so years ago. He hadn’t been well liked for his business, but perhaps more his brilliance and entertaining manner. The man threw the kind of parties that had people still feeling their hangovers weeks later. It was speculated that these parties were the cause of Lionel’s death and there weren’t many who disagreed with that theory.

The matriarch of the Luthor family was Lillian Luthor. Unlike her husband, her manner of business left little to be disliked. Clients and partners alike compared her to the LuthorCorp building: sleek and silver. Although charming and charismatic, she was apt at putting on a façade for those watching. Behind closed doors, Lillian Luthor was anything but warm and kind. There’d been the odd rumour here and there about the manner of Lionel’s death being due to ‘natural causes’ but nothing had come out of them. By most accounts, Lillian was quite the loving spouse.

Next were the children. There was Lex who, at forty years old, was not aging gracefully. In college, he’d been quite sought after for his devilishly handsome looks and full head of hair but since going into business with his father: those looks and locks had faded with stress and exhaustion. He was still handsome, but it was safe to say he looked older than he was. Since his father’s demise, Lex had been the primary head of the company with his mother as first-in-command. The last of the family was his younger sister, Lena.

In the eyes of the city, Lena Luthor was the angel of the family. Although she was as ambitious as her brother, Lena did it with a lot more class and style. She was as sharp as a tack, and even quicker with her words which were frequently clever and kind. Like her mother and the Luthor building; silver was a good word to sum her up in. Because of Lena’s more gentle approach to business and people in general: she often found herself to be the black sheep of the family and definitely didn’t have many friends. That wasn’t to say people didn’t want to be friends with the ‘soft’ Luthor – everybody did – but it was to say that people took advantage of her and she noticed it quickly.

Over the years, LuthorCorp had gone down a fair few paths in its lifetime. It had started in pesticide manufacturing, then evolved into an extensive billion-dollar after soaking up some assets of former rivals. To date it had taken over four different companies and now had departments in synth-technology advancements, the marketing of those synths, and even developing new forms of synths: but that was confidential. Media followed the Luthors all day long, through public and private appearances, over conferences and charity galas. At the moment, they were obsessing over rumours that Lex was under watch by the FBI for tampering with the recent city election which had seen the Luthors’ close friend, Morgan Edge, run for the mayor’s position. Because of that scandal, they hadn’t noticed the youngest Luthor that particular morning.

Lena Luthor was sat, cross-legged, in her office that overlooked the memorial park on the ground below. She especially liked the view at this time in the morning, just when the fog was clearing to see the bustling city beneath it. The quiet before the storm, as she liked to think of it. Lena was in her own quiet before a storm right now. She had a meeting soon, and it wasn’t one she was looking forward to. Lena savoured her peaceful moments, infrequent as they were.

There was a soft knock at the door. Jess’ head popped around the door. “Ms Luthor? Your brother is here to see you.” She said quietly. Jess was Lena’s assistant, and one of her more favoured ones. Despite being a synthetic, Lena found Jess an oddly personal creature. She remembered every little thing Lena told her, and never spoke a word of it to anybody else.

Lena turned in her chair. “Thank you, Jess. Send him through and take a seat for yourself.”

The green eyes disappeared for a moment, and then the door opened further. Lex came in first, with Jess close behind him. He was wearing one of his suits again; one of the ones that made Lena’s nose crinkle. It was a yellowy-brown, like a bottle of Corona Lager, and smelled as such. His tie was a puke-green, and also smelled how it looked. Lena looked her brother up and down with disdain.

“You look awful.” She remarked.

Lex occupied himself over the booze tray in the corner of the office. Lena kept it there for him. He sniggered at her comment. “I feel it. I’m telling you; the Hoover boys know how to _drink_. Samuel – great guy, you’d like him - had this trick right, where he could-“

Lena held up a dismissive hand, opting to ignore his brags about the conversations he had with the likes of the FBI. “What do you want, Lex?” Her brother wasn’t one for personal visits. Usually, it was Lena was left on the receiving end of his personal assistants or their mother conveying his annoying little messages. She watched him pour a scotch.

“Oh, c’mon Lena, have a little kindness for your brother. Aren’t you happy to see me? What’s it been? Four months?” He sauntered over and flopped in one of the chairs, wheeling it around to Lena’s side of the desk. His steel-grey eyes glanced at the view outside. “Your office is nicer than mine. Have you had it redecorated or something?”

“Cut the shit.” She replied curtly. The smell of booze on him was making her feel ill, but she didn’t dare move. One move and Lex would be all over it: her fear of him. He seemed to find it more intoxicating than the alcohol.

Lex let out a long exhale. “God, you’re really boring, you know that? That synth of yours is more fun than you are.” He sneered, and got up again to take a long drink of his scotch. Lena waited patiently while he drank. Lex rolled his eyes and tossed his empty glass at Jess, who caught it deftly with one hand. He sniggered as she crossed the room to put it back on the tray. _“Nice.”_

“I have another meeting in ten minutes so whatever you’ve got to say, can you just spit it out?” Lena wanted to punch him in the face.

Lex finally turned serious, although the boredom was still evident on his face. “They’ve tracked the synthetic.” He muttered, taking a seat again. “The one you’ve been looking for.”

That perked Lena’s attention. “What? Where? When?” She rose out of her chair slightly. “Tell me.”

Lex chuckled sneeringly. “You used to wear that face on Christmas morning, before Mom and Dad woke up. I didn’t know you could still smile.” When Lena didn’t respond to his jabs, he rolled his eyes and sighed again. He held up three fingers, and counted as he spoke. “What: we found the synthetic. Where: it’s in National City. When: this morning, about half an hour ago.”

“Did your agent manage to bring her in?”

“No, because she’s not an _idiot_ , Lena. Someone just grabs someone else’s synth in broad daylight and you think nobody will notice?”

“Someone else’s?”

“Yeah it seems, after your botched attempt to sneak her in from Gotham, our dear little synthetic got herself sold second-hand to a university student. Some girl named _Kara Danvers_ , she’s an intern over at CatCo, can you believe that? We chase a robot all over the country, lose her, and she ends up in the hands in one of our department’s internships. It really is a small world.”

Lena sank back into her chair. “What do you think I should do about it?”

“You can’t exactly go up to her and ask for your weird synth back, that’s just asking for raised questions. You can’t try and snatch her again either, especially not in a city as public as this one.”

“-and we can’t hire anybody to do it either. Thanks to you, the press is more invasive than ever.”

Lex scoffed. “Thanks to _me? You’re_ the one who tried to elope with that Spheer guy. It’s a good thing Mom managed to stop you otherwise we would’ve stayed the front page for weeks. I still don’t know what you saw in that British prick, he was a twat.”

“No more than you.” Lena replied hotly. “We’re getting off topic. Jess, contact Miss Danvers and request her as my assistant for a day or something, say it’s an interview. Put it in for next week.”

Lex raised an eyebrow. “The Danvers girl has a sister. She’s a bio-engineering student.”

“Oh?”

He shrugged. “Maybe she can help with your research. The agent did a background check and apparently she’s the best in her class, but she’s somehow failing at the same time. Her mother is Eliza Danvers.”

Lena’s eyes widened. “ _The_ Eliza Danvers? I thought she was dead.”

“She’s very much alive.”

Lena let out a low whistle. “God. What are the chances?” She considered it for a moment, then turned to Jess again. “Request the sister as well. And their synthetic.” Jess nodded and saved it to her memory. Lena caught the smug grin on Lex’s face. “You’re going to fuck me over on this, aren’t you?”

Lex stood from his chair, walked towards Jess, flicked her in the forehead, laughed and then went to the door. He finished his scotch with one gulp. “I already have.”

+

Alex didn’t want to like Maggie. She didn’t want to admit that Maggie was actually making her day a whole of a lot better by just being there. That wasn’t to say she wasn’t still angry at Kara for buying her, and putting them in considerably more debt than they already were, but she was starting to see the perks of having a new person around.

Upon the discovery that Alex had a spare dollar in her coat, the two went for coffee before heading home. Maggie ordered it for her, because Alex hated ordering things face to face and soon, they’d fallen into step with each other once again. Alex tried to get Maggie to walk next to her, but she kept slipping behind by about a stride and a half. Alex tried to slow to her pace, but she kept her distance.

“Do I smell or something?” Alex joked. It had rained over the rest of the day, and they’d both gotten drenched, but that didn’t seem to put a dampener on Alex’s mood like it usually would’ve. It was still chucking it down, and neither of them had an umbrella. “C’mon, Maggie, keep up.”

Maggie raised her head. “I am not allowed to walk next to you, Alex, as I am your escort. It is for safety purposes.”

“I’d feel safer if you walked next to me. With you back there, I feel like you’re stalking me.” Maggie considered it for a moment, and then finally fell into a walk that matched Alex’s stride. Alex smiled and linked her free arm through Maggie’s so she wouldn’t fall behind again. “So, this whole safety purpose thing sounds interesting. If you had to keep me safe, what would you do?”

“Steps will be taken to prevent the attack, and the authorities will be alerted.” Maggie provided. “Are you worried you will be attacked?”

“No. I was just curious.” Alex replied. They were quiet for a moment, just walking home in contented silence. Alex occasionally glanced down at their linked arms and with each glance, she noticed a small line on the back of Maggie’s wrist. It wasn’t very big, only about the length of Alex’s little finger, and had small stitch marks dotted up and down it. Alex frowned. “What’s this?”

Maggie followed her gaze. “It appears to be a fault in my hardware system.” Her eyes looked at Alex’s. “Thank you for notifying me, Alex.”

“What happened?”

Maggie paused. “I cannot find anything in my memory hard-drive to conclude how I have become damaged. I will need to be repaired to prevent further damages to software and hardware.” When Alex sighed, Maggie unlinked her arm. “Do not worry, Alex. On an insurance guarantee, it will not cost anything.”

“We don’t have insurance, Maggie, remember?” Alex let out another frustrated sigh, and ran a hand through her wet hair. They both knew she’d come with that scratch and Kara either hadn’t noticed, or didn’t care. Alex was betting on the latter. The rain was starting to come down heavier now. She thought for a second, then nodded her head and linked her arm into Maggie’s again. “C’mon, let’s get home before the rain gives you a short circuit. God, I’m going to kill Kara.”

+

“You’re home early.”

Alex heard Kara’s words before she even shut the door behind her. She was dressed in her usual day-off attire which were a pair of sweats and one of Alex’s university hoodies with her hair down. Eliza was curled up on the sofa, in the same kind of outfit. A television show, probably one of the _Real Housewives_ , was keeping her entertained along with a small bowl of soup. As Maggie went to sit beside Eliza, Alex took off her jacket and hung up her bag.

“I was just on the phone.” Kara announced quietly as she approached. She had a look on her face that Alex had seen before: seen it yesterday in fact. She was hiding something big and she was bursting at the seams to share it.

“Oh yeah? With who?” Alex hoped Kara hadn’t bought another synth or something ridiculous like that.

“You won’t believe it.”

“I’m sure I won’t.” Alex looked at her sister. She was ready to explode. “C’mon, spit it out.”

Kara couldn’t hold it anymore. “ _Lena Luthor’s personal assistant_.”

Alex scoffed, and crossed through the apartment to place a kiss on her mother’s forehead. “What are the Luthors doing calling you?” She frowned. “What’d they want?”

Kara shrugged off Alex’s disbelief, hurtful as it felt. “They want us to come in for an internship interview with Miss Luthor in a few days. Her assistant said there’s two internships going: one for synth development and one for the marketing team.”

“That’s weird. Why’d she call us?” Alex questioned. This entire thing already felt suspicious. Alex hadn’t spoken to a Luthor in her life. She’d been in their presence, seen them on the TV and on the front page of the newspapers, but had never exchanged pleasantries with them. Her parents had never spoken of them in high regard. “Why does she want both of us? You’re the one on a marketing internship.”

Kara shrugged again. “Maybe because we’re the Danvers?” She pointed out, her eyes drifting over to Eliza. “Apples not falling far from the tree?”

Alex understood her point and nodded. “Probably.” She flopped down next to her mother. “Do you think you’ll take it?”

“Well, I think I’ll find out more first, but it’s pretty exciting don’t you think? Lena Luthor herself wants us.”

“Hm, yeah. Just be careful, okay? You know Mom and Dad don’t like them for a reason.”

Kara nodded. “I will, don’t worry.” She leaned her elbows on the back of the couch. “Anyway, enough about that. How was your day with Maggie in tow?”

Alex looked at the synth on the other side of her mother. Maggie was gently lifting the spoon to Eliza’s lips and making sure she didn’t spill any soup on herself. Eliza smiled contentedly whenever Maggie gently dabbed at her chin with a cloth. Alex caught a glimpse of the scrape on Maggie’s wrist and sighed. “It was okay.”

“Just okay?” Kara echoed with a raised eyebrow. Alex reached over her mother and gently took a hold of Maggie’s wrist. She held it up and showed the stitched line on her arm. Kara’s smile faltered at the broken synth skin. “Oh.”

“Yeah. _Oh_.” Alex gave Maggie her arm back. “We’re not insured, so we’ll have to pay to repair it, and who knows if she’s got any damage from it.”

Kara ran a hand through her hair. “We can take her into one of the repair places tomorrow and get a quote. They’re free.” She suggested. “Then we can go from there.”

Alex nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

Kara narrowed her eyes, and smirked. “You’re being weirdly cooperative. Are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired, is all.”

“Oh. Do you mind if I go and see Winn for a few hours then? Will you be alright with Mom?” She was already making her way to the door to grab her coat and umbrella.

Alex frowned. “Uh, sure. Why are you spending a few hours with Winn?” She watched her sister suspiciously, spying the blush beneath her blonde hair.

“No reason! Don’t be mean to Maggie! See you!” Kara shut the door behind her before Alex had the chance to protest.

Alex stretched out and rolled her eyes. The last thing she needed was her sister getting with her best friend. It was bad enough that Kara acted like a love-struck teenager _without_ a boyfriend, so God knows what she was going to be like with one. Eliza, having finally finished her soup, settled into the couch a little more by curling herself up next to Alex.

“Hello, sweetheart.” She greeted softly. “How was your day?”

Alex smiled. She always felt better when she could make lucid conversation with her mother. Hell, if Eliza so much as remembered her name: Alex’s day was made. It wasn’t much, but she treasured it. “It was good, thanks Mom. Did you enjoy your soup?”

“Mm yes. Maggie helped me.” She murmured. “Thank you, Maggie.”

Maggie gave a smile. “You’re welcome, Eliza.” Her eyes moved to Alex with a small whir. “My power is at 9%. May I be excused to charge?”

Alex nodded. “Yeah sure.”

Maggie stood and padded over to the kitchen. On the counter, beside the fridge, was a white cord that was similar to a computer charger. Maggie picked it up and stuck the plug in the socket they used for the microwave. She pulled up a stool and sat precariously on it. Up the side of her blue dress, between her hip and her ribcage, was a long zip that she undid to reveal a white patch about the size of her hand. There was a socket in the middle of it that she put the other end of the cord into it.

Before she pressed the ‘on’ button, Maggie looked at Alex, who’d been staring as the process had unfolded. When she saw Maggie was staring back at her, Alex looked away. For some strange reason, she felt like she’d been caught red-handed: looking at something she shouldn’t’ve.

Maggie smiled. “It’s alright to watch me, Alex.” She said.

The brunette leaned over the counter and flicked the switch. It slowly sent her into a daze where her eyes closed and she sat eerily still on her seat. Occasionally, her hand – which rested on her knee – twitched from the charge.

Alex frowned and a deep crease formed between her brows. That was another time Maggie had acted strange. Just slightly out of order, too casual and easy-going. Doing things that she wasn’t meant to do, or wasn’t meant to know to do. It was weird, but it didn’t make Alex feel uncomfortable. _Curious_ more than anything.

She tried to squint a little closer to the woman on her kitchen stool. Maggie’s finger tapped against the palm of her hand gently, making the tiniest sound of skin on skin. There was a small, blue glow beneath the stitched scar that pulsed every few seconds, like a steady heartbeat. Alex wondered if Maggie could feel it. Feel the synthetic skin rising and falling as another wave went through her body. She wondered if Maggie could see it, would she actually feel it rather than just acknowledge it were happening?

Eliza had fallen asleep on her shoulder so Alex very carefully manoeuvred herself to stand up without disturbing her. As soon as Eliza was gently snoring on a cushion, Alex padded over to the sleeping synth. She couldn’t look away from the stitching. It was crude, like it had been done in a hurry or by somebody who didn’t know how to stitch. It was held together at the top and at the bottom but the middle was separated slightly, like somebody had been fiddling their finger in between the stitches. Alex’s eyes flitted up at Maggie’s again. They were still closed and her eyelashes still quivered above her cheeks: she hadn’t noticed Alex leaning over her arm.

Alex knew she was going to regret it but her hand reached over Maggie’s arm. Her fingers graced down the stitches, just pressing lightly into the skin. It felt like regular skin, if a little firmer and smoother. Alex prodded firmer and this time, her finger went straight between the stitches and into the blue pulse.

Maggie’s eyes shot open and a loud gasp erupted from her throat. It was like a rush of energy had been injected into her: her entire body came alive. Alex hissed as an electric shock zapped her finger and she retracted her hand. Maggie grabbed Alex’s wrist in an iron-like grip: catching it so tightly that Alex thought she might break it.

“Maggie?” Alex stared at Maggie’s wrist. From where she’d pulled her hand away, she’d broken more of the stitching and now a strange, dark blue liquid was oozing down Maggie’s arm. “Maggie, are you alright?”

Maggie’s breathing was heavy and panicked. Her bright green eyes were darting around the room in fear, never settling on one object for more than a second. When they fell onto the synthetic blood coming out of her arm, she whimpered loudly.

“ _Oh my god, why am I bleeding_?”

Her voice was terrified, and _real_. It had an accent, a Blue Springs one at that, and it quivered and shook with fear. Maggie yanked her charging cord out of her side in a motion that was far too fluid for a synthetic. As she stumbled off of the stool, Alex reached out to steady her. When she caught her by the elbow, Maggie’s eyes met hers.

“Help me, Alex.” Her voice was almost pleading. “Please, help me.”

“I don’t understand. What’s going on? How can you- ?” Alex held onto Maggie tighter, ignoring how the blue blood was spilling onto her clothes. In honesty, she didn’t even notice. “You’re talking…you’re…Maggie, you’re _conscious._ ”

Maggie stumbled backwards again, and her eyes rolled backwards. Her face scrunched up in pain – she could feel – and she held on tighter. _“Please help me. It hurts…”_

“Your arm? You can feel your arm hurting?” Alex tried to reach backwards over the counter to grab a cloth, but Maggie stumbled again.

It was like Maggie were dizzy, she couldn’t keep her eyes focused on anything. Her knees buckled and went weak. She nearly dragged Alex down with her as she fell to the floor. All the noise and commotion had stirred Eliza from her sleep, and the blonde looked up curiously.

“Alex? What’s going on?” She rubbed her eyes and squinted through the darkness of the flat. They must’ve looked a sight on the floor because Eliza rose from her spot and frowned deeper. “…Maggie?”

Maggie froze again when she heard her name, and her head moved in the direction of the Danvers woman. Alex spotted the recognition in both of their eyes and the way they both stopped in their tracks. Eliza was lucid, probably the most lucid she’d been in years. She walked forward and pulled Maggie to her feet.

“Is that really you?”

“Eliza?” Maggie’s voice calmed and relief seemed to wash through her. Alex’s eyes nearly fell out of her head because the two embraced in a tight hug. “Oh my god.”

“What are you doing here? How are you here? Where’s -?” Eliza looked around the room as if she were looking for somebody.

“Mom? What’s going on?” Alex was so confused. They _knew_ each other. “You’re scaring me.”

Maggie’s mouth opened and shut like a fish. She was trying to find an explanation for it all. But as soon as she made a noise, it was like somebody had pressed a reset button. Her body shuddered and stopped and started like it was a malfunctioning robot. Alex tried to hold her still by gripping her upper arms, but all it seemed to do was make it worse. Maggie’s head fell limp, staring at her feet with her hair hiding her face. She stayed deathly still as if she were a statue. Alex poked her shoulder.

“Maggie? Maggie, are you okay?”

There was no response. Alex took the opportunity to finally grab a cloth and wrap it around Maggie’s bleeding arm. Eliza tied it. She was still lucid but Alex knew by her wandering eyes that she was fading out of it again. She’d have to grab her while she was still in the moment.

“Mom?” Alex hissed through her teeth. “Mom, what’s going on?”

Eliza took another cloth and started wiping down the blood-spattered surfaces. “You won’t understand.” She muttered solemnly. “You’re not old enough to understand these things, Alex, it’s only for grown-ups.”

Alex resisted a sigh. She’d forgotten again. “Mom, I am a grown-up. I’m twenty-four, remember?”

“Mhm.” Eliza put the cloth down and wandered back to the sofa, barely even acknowledging the chaos that had just gone down in the kitchen. Alex resented her for it, even though she knew it wasn’t her fault. Sometimes, she just wished they could have a conversation that Eliza understood and enjoyed.

Maggie still hadn’t moved. The blood had stopped and the blue glow of her arm had faded and gone. Alex reached under and pressed her ‘on’ button that was located under her chin. The default chime rung out and Maggie lifted her head. When her eyes opened, she blinked a couple of times and recognised Alex in the room. She smiled.

“Hello, Alex. Do you need something?” Her voice was cool and calm, smooth and plastic. Like Eliza, someone had pressed reset in her mind.

Alex didn’t know what to do. She ran a hand through her hair. “Do you remember what just happened? Can you feel your arm?”

Maggie blinked simply. “I sat down to recharge my battery. Then you requested me and here we are.” She looked down at her bandaged arm. “It seems the damage to my arm has extended to dangerous levels, Alex. The potential for internal damage is high.”

Alex nodded. “Yeah, yeah I know. We’re gonna get you fixed, don’t worry.” She sighed. “You really don’t remember? You kind of went all crazy for a few minutes there.”

Maggie blinked again. “I do not understand, Alex.” She replied cheerily. “My battery is at fourteen percent. May I be excused to recharge?”

“Yeah, fine.”

Maggie repeated her process with her charging cord, and it was like the past ten minutes had never happened. Her hand was back to its usual twitching, and Eliza was curled back up on the sofa, sleeping peacefully. Alex was left in the dark, both in the kitchen and in her mind.

+

It was another two days until Alex managed to take Maggie into the repair shop. She tried to get Eliza to remember the whole interaction, to tell her how she knew Maggie and how she knew what was going on, but there was nothing. It had been even harder convincing Kara what had happened.

“You were just dreaming it.” Kara told her as they walked to the repair shop. Thankfully, it wasn’t far from their apartment so they didn’t need to waste money on a bus or a train. By a stroke of luck, they’d managed to convince a neighbour to look after Eliza for a couple of hours. “Synths aren’t conscious. Watch, this guy will run a diagnostic on her and it’ll show there’s nothing wrong with her apart from a battered arm.”

“He’s not some head cracker, is he?”

Kara shrugged. “I don’t know, probably. Winn said he hangs out with him from time to time.”

Alex stopped in her tracks. Maggie nearly collided into the back of her. “This is _Winn’s_ recommendation? How do you know this is a legit fixer and not some loser who just abuses his own fist every night?”

Kara scoffed. “I don’t. I’m just trying to have a little faith in humanity, is all.” She linked her arm with Alex’s and started walking again. “Besides, Winn wouldn’t fuck us over.”

“Yeah, tell that to the bonfire party of 2015.”

Kara laughed. “Oh c’mon, you know it wasn’t him who called the police!”

Alex shook her head, but gave a smile. “Hm yeah sure. It wasn’t him who called the police after you started kissing face with Kenny Malkovich and broke his favourite mug.”

“I don’t think he’s ever forgiven me.”

-

It didn’t take them long to find the guy they were looking for. Winn had said his name was Brainy, according to his online handle. Alex didn’t really care what his name was: she just hoped if things went south, he was small enough for her to take down.

Thankfully, he was. Brainy was barely older than Kara. He was a tan boy, with kind eyes and dark hair that stuck out at all angles, like Dr Brown. He wore thick-rimmed steam-punk glasses that sat in his mess of dark hair, and a _Star Trek_ t-shirt beneath a welding apron that was scorched and beaten beyond belief. When he recognised Kara, he smiled a toothy grin and stuck his hand out.

“Kara, right? Winn’s friend? I’m Brainy.”

Kara didn’t seem to mind shaking his oil-greased hand. “That’s me, and this is my sister, Alex.” She gestured to Alex, who didn’t shake Brainy’s hand. “And this is – “

“This is the synth you wanted fixing.” Brainy nodded, looking Maggie up and down. “Winn said you needed a quote first? Let me just run a diagnostic first, yeah? This way.”

Brainy’s shop was more of a shack. It was two shipping containers stacked on one another and had all kinds of bits and pieces around the outside. There were broken car parts, slashed tyres, barrels, chain fences and even a beaten-up motorcycle. Nothing stylish or tidy until they went inside the containers. In there were state of the art computers hidden amongst a monstrous amount of cords and wires and other technical equipment that even Alex couldn’t name.

“Jesus.” She let out a low whistle as Brainy took a seat at a small metal desk. “This is impressive.”

“Thanks.” He grinned and gestured around. “I get commission doing mods for people with basic synths. They want things that can make their synth wrestle better than John Cena, and I make it for them.”

Alex rose an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. Instead, she pulled up a chair for Maggie to sit in and plugged her in to the computer that Brainy logged into.

“So, what will a diagnostic tell you?” Kara attempted to make friendly conversation.

“Basically, it’ll show me her coding which’ll tell me if she’s got any software problems.” Brainy responded. As soon as Maggie was plugged, a black screen appeared and a huge, long code starting listing all the way in blue lettering. Now Brainy let out a whistle.

_“Damn.”_

“What?”

Brainy shook his head. “Nothing, it’s just I haven’t seen one like her before, so she’s unique. You got her second-hand right?”

Kara nodded. “Mhm, yeah. A couple of days ago.”

“Sometimes second-hand ones can be buggier than factory mass-producers, it’s just down to luck.”

Alex pulled up her own seat and looked over Brainy’s shoulder at the coding. She didn’t know what any of it meant. “What sort of information do you get from them?”

“Whatever she’s been up to, really. Viruses, hacks, mods, that kind of stuff.”

Kara peered closer. “So, like, passwords and activations? That kind of stuff?”

“We want to know everything that’s been going on with her.” Alex pressed. She needed to know if Brainy could hack into whatever had happened with Maggie two days ago because it was driving her crazy. “Does she have an error or something?”

Brainy grinned at the two sisters. “I can see why Winn likes you two. Women about business. I like it too.” When Alex scowled at him, he fell silent and clicked a few buttons at his computer. There were a few moments of silence, and then the computer beeped. Brainy frowned. “Hold on. There’s something weird here.”

“What is it?” Alex questioned.

Brainy looked at his screen again, studying it closer. “Yeah, this is funny. When did you say you got her?”

“Three days ago. What is it? What’s the matter?”

“She’s not brand-new, but she’s not second-hand either. This synth is fifteen years old, at least. She’s _ancient_.”

Maggie didn’t react to this news. She was too plugged to even hear what was going on. Alex looked at Kara, and they exchanged worried glances.

“How is that possible?” Kara frowned. “Synths aren’t supposed to last that long. What is it? Four, five years max?”

Brainy looked as confused as the sisters did. He took off his glasses and tried to look closer at Maggie’s coding. “I haven’t seen anything like it. There’s all these little messages in the coding, look.” He pointed to a couple of numbers that he highlighted in green. “There’s a separate programme that needs lifting, I think.”

“A separate programme?” Alex echoed. “Like a modification?”

“Kind of. But this is much more technical. I don’t know if I’ve got the skills to decipher it, to be honest with you. You’ll have to take her to someone higher up, someone who’s a master at synth coding.” Brainy sat back. “I know some people, but this is… _dangerous_ shit. Like, can-get-you-killed dangerous shit.”

Kara’s hand found Alex’s, and she squeezed it tightly. Alex returned the gesture, casting fearful eyes at Maggie. Suddenly, it was like looking at a ticking timebomb. Alex cleared her throat.

“Have you got the number for these hacker friends of yours?” She asked.

Brainy shook his head. “Not on me, and I can’t text them to you. We don’t know who’s watching.” From the tone of his voice, Alex could tell he wasn’t fucking around. Brainy reached over and unplugged Maggie. “Look, I can send them over to Winn. He’s better at encrypting stuff than I am. He can get you the numbers.”

“And how long will that take?”

“Only a few hours, but you’ll still need to lay low. A synth like this is worth a dangerous amount of money.”

“What do we do until then?” Kara asked, the fear present in her voice.

Brainy stood. “Act normal. Go about your day like nothing’s happened.” He glanced at Maggie. “I’ll fix that arm for you, but don’t tell anyone it was me. I don’t want people knocking my door down and torturing me for this kind of information.”

Alex felt scared. More than scared. Terrified, even. As Brainy moved to start on Maggie’s arm, she caught a hold of his sleeve. “You’re being serious, aren’t you? This is dangerous?”

Brainy’s grim expression was all she needed. She let go of him, and squeezed Kara’s hand tighter. Kara looked even more frightened than Alex did.

“You were right. I’m sorry.” She mumbled. “There’s something wrong with her. She’s got to go.”

Alex tightened her lips. “We’re not getting rid of her. We’re going to keep her. We need to find out what’s going on.”

Kara frowned. “Why? She’s just a malfunctioning machine, that’s all. Maybe she came from a hacker gang, something like that.”

“She’s a part of our family now.” Alex defended, which felt strange to say. “But I think she was a part of someone else’s.”

“Alex – we can’t – “

Alex shook her head. She knew there was something more to all of this, and it had to do with Eliza and Maggie’s outburst the other night. Alex took a step closer to Maggie, who smiled up at her. “Maggie, who were you before you came to us?”

“I’m sorry, Alex. I do not understand the question.” 

Alex leaned down to her eye height. “I think you do.”

+

Acting normal felt impossible now. Knowing that Maggie was a completely unique synthetic, it felt like living with the biggest dark secret anyone could ever have, and that it was written right across their foreheads. Alex rang Winn the moment they left Brainy’s shop and he was at the apartment to meet them when they got back. It was eerily still, even though Eliza was home. Most of the lights were off, and the ones that were on were on a dimmed level. Alex squinted through the dark to see Eliza comfortably eating a dinner at the table with a blanket around her shoulders.

Kara made some hurried excuse for the neighbour to leave and to get everyone except for Maggie sat at the kitchen table.

“What’s going on?” Winn questioned. “Are you guys okay? You’re acting weird.”

“Just sit down, Winn.” Kara said in an unusually stern voice. He plopped down next to Eliza, and Kara took the seat on the other side. “Right-“

“We checked up on Maggie.” Alex interrupted, eager to get down to business. “Brainy ran a scan on her. She’s old. Like, really old. She’s nearly Kara’s age, and Brainy thinks she’s been illegally modified, which explains a lot.”

“Fuck.” Winn muttered. He thought for a moment. “Do you think that’s why the Luthors want to see you?”

Alex frowned. She hadn’t even thought about that. Judging by Kara’s raised eyebrows, she hadn’t either. Eliza stirred slightly at the mention of the Luthors, but didn’t make any comment.

“What is it, Mom? Did you remember something? Something about Maggie or LuthorCorp?” Eliza’s face twisted into an expression of disgust, but she still didn’t say anything. Alex bit her lip in frustration. “The Luthors were rivals to the Elster project, right? Mom worked on that project with the Elsters.”

Kara frowned. “I didn’t know she was one of the partners. How long ago was this?”

“About twenty years ago? Fifteen? They’re the family that created the Synth project and Mom helped. So did Dad.”

Winn nodded his head in agreement. “The Luthors were the selling company, the ones who first marketed them to the world and stuff.”

“So why were they rivals?”

“I don’t know.” Alex said with a shrug. “The Elsters must’ve done something that pissed the Luthors off. All I know is that they severed all ties with each other then Mom and Dad had their accident a few years later.” She frowned as she spoke, trying to find any memories of her parents that could’ve linked to synthetic technology. “Maybe that’s what they did.”

“They did what?” Winn echoed.

Alex looked over her shoulder. Maggie was still organising their coats by the door, and wasn’t paying attention to the conversation. Alex turned back to her friends. “Discovered _conscious_ synths. Created a sentient code.”

“You think so?”

“Think about it. The Luthors were in business with the Elster project for years. Then, there’s some kind of scandal that makes them cut ties and now they hate each other? The Elsters were hiding something, that’s got to be it.” When everybody still looked confused, Alex sat up a little straighter. “Look, Brainy found a unique programme in Maggie’s code, and Maggie is at least fifteen years old _so_ , that puts her in time with when the Luthors and Elsters fell out. Maggie bugged out two days ago, I swear, she was human or was human-like. This has got to be it.”

The others sat there in stunned silence, unsure how to process Alex’s theory. They were thinking about it, long and hard. Alex looked back at Maggie. She was done with the coats and now looked like a lost kitten, unsure of what to do next. Alex stood and crossed over to the synth.

Since Maggie’s outburst, Alex felt weirdly protective over her. It felt strange to have a connection with her, because she was – essentially - a machine. Alex didn’t really know what made her feel this way, whether it was the way Maggie listened or the way she’d asked her for help even after she’d hurt her, but Alex felt her heart tighten whenever she thought about Maggie’s welfare.

She touched Maggie’s shoulder as she reached her. “Are you okay?”

Maggie gave one of her plastic smiles. “I am perfectly well, Alex. Can I help you with something?”

“No, no, you’re alright.” Alex assured. She glanced sideways, noticing the others were still talking amongst themselves. Maggie noticed this too.

“I like being a part of your family, Alex.” She said. “You are all very kind.”

Alex knew that was the biggest form of compliment a synth could muster, so she took it with a smile. “Thank you. I know we got off on the wrong foot to begin with, and I haven’t really been that nice about you, but I hope you can forgive me.”

Maggie blinked. “There is nothing to forgive.” She responded. Maggie wandered away to the kitchen before Alex could open her mouth to protest.

The redhead returned to the table. Kara looked solemn and Winn seemed worried. She’d taken her glasses off and he’d threaded his fingers together. Alex felt her heart sink: this wasn’t going to be good. Kara was the first to speak.

“We need to find out more about the original synth project, preferably before we meet the Luthors. We shouldn’t go into it blind.” She spotted Alex’s doubtful expression. “I think we should go and see Lena: we should see what she wants.”

“To take Maggie.” Alex responded.

Kara nodded. “Yeah, probably. But I would like to know more. Maybe it’ll help us help Maggie.”

“How are we trying to help Maggie?” Winn chimed in. “What’s our endgame here? Send her to the Luthors? Keep her? Give her back to the Elster company?”

“The Elsters are all gone.” Alex replied. “No matter what we find, I think Maggie should stay with us.”

Out of all the people to speak up, Alex hadn’t expected Eliza to make a comment, let alone a lucid one. Yet, she did and did it with her usual natural grace.

“Maggie is family.” She said simply, as if that were the end of the matter. It was: in Alex’s view. If her mother wanted Maggie to stay, then Maggie stayed.

“We need to do something else too.” Winn said. “We need to get Maggie conscious again.”

Alex nodded her agreement. “Right.” She looked over to Maggie. “Question is, how? Last time I just stuck my finger in her arm and she went all funny. Brainy’s fixed her so I don’t really know how we’re going to activate it again.”

Kara squinted at Maggie over Alex’s shoulder. “Brainy mentioned she has a special programme in her code. Are either of you two good at coding?”

Alex shook her head because she didn’t know the first thing about synth coding. Winn acted grim.

“I know someone who is…they’re on the list that Brainy sent over.” He shifted his fingers together. “But you’re not going to like it.”

Alex groaned. “When am I ever going to like it?” She muttered grumpily. Alex turned to her sister. “When is our meeting with Lena, again?”

“Tomorrow morning.”

“Fuck sake.” She sighed. “Right, Winn, call the hacker. Get them over here for tonight. Kara, you start researching the synth project and I’ll get Mom’s old work folders out of our bedroom. It’s going to be a busy night.”

+

Underneath Eliza’s bed were about five or six beige boxes that had all been carefully labelled in her handwriting. Alex never had the heart to get them out, assuming them to just be old family photos and work documents that Eliza kept for sentimental reasons. Kara had tried to look through them once but received a lot of incoherent screaming off of their mother, so hadn’t tried again.

Maggie kept Eliza entertained whilst Alex disappeared into the bedroom and wriggled underneath the bed to pull out the box labelled ‘Metropolis’. It was heavy, almost too heavy for Alex to pick up properly. She took off the lid, and turned the box over, letting its contents spill all over Eliza’s bed in a cluster of photos, papers, journals and paperclips. Alex almost couldn’t believe it all fitted into one box. Setting the box to one side, she knelt on the floor and started to make a guess at what she was looking at.

The journals were marked by colours: black for work, blue for personal and the red was labelled ‘other’. It was no surprise that there were significantly fewer blue journals than the black ones. When Mom had been active in her work, it had mainly been their father that had looked after the Danvers children. Another thing Alex resented Eliza for, and yet another thing she didn’t have time to be angry about right now.

She picked out one of the black journals and flicked through it but found nothing of relevance. Only funny little notes about how she needed to call a babysitter for Kara before her millionth meeting of the day. Alex tried another one. As she picked it up, something slipped out and fell to the floor, disappearing under the bed. Alex frowned and reached under, making a face at the dust on the floor. If a spider crawled up her hand, she was going to scream.

She pulled the documents back out and sat up to look at it properly. It was a photo, and it looked like it had been taken by somebody who wasn’t supposed to be taking it. There was blurred shrubbery dotted around the edge of the frame, and partially hid the two subjects of the photo. It was outside some sort of facility, maybe something scientific or business-related judging by the plain white exterior. The figures themselves were both women, one that was immediately recognisable as Eliza from the shock of blonde hair and light green doctor’s coat. The other, Alex couldn’t quite make out because her face was covered by the greenery. She had dark hair and seemed like she was waiting for somebody because she had her back leaned up against a wall. Alex squinted, trying to peer closer at the woman’s clothing.

Judging by her leather jacket, lavender button up shirt and professionally-done hair, Alex estimated she was around her mother’s age, maybe a couple of years younger. There was another photo, one that had been taken seconds after the first. It was clearer, and showed the two women in closer detail. Eliza was leaning up against the wall too, and still had her back to the camera, but Alex could spy a coffee holder in her hand. One of these coffees was being offered to the other woman.

She was smiling, and had dimples in her olive complexion cheeks. Dark chocolate hair that had been braided into a plait and a ponytail reached down her back in an elegant sweep. Alex peered closer at the woman’s face. The canines of her smile were ever so slightly pointy, almost like a vampire. Alex knew those little fangs anywhere.

As she reached for more documents and photos, there was a soft knock at the door. “Alex? Winn’s friend has arrived.” Maggie spoke gently, evidently realising she’d walked in on the middle of something.

Alex stood, holding up the second photo. “Is this you? This woman with my mother?”

Maggie walked into the room further, casting her eyes over the mess before focusing on the photo Alex held up. She took it, and studied it closely, not noticing how Alex observed her. After a moment, she handed back the photo. “I do not know who this woman is, Alex. I’m sorry.”

“Look closer.” Alex urged. She moved the photo closer to Maggie’s face. Even if the woman wasn’t Maggie, Alex knew she knew something about her. As the synth tried to study the photo even closer, Alex rummaged through the other photos.

Underneath one of the journals, there was another photo of Eliza and the woman but this one had been taken a while after the first two. Now, three more figures had entered the scene. Two were men, both dressed in white coats and glasses that matched their greying hair. The third was a woman, and now Alex realised her mistake. The first woman wasn’t Maggie, because the third woman was. Except it still wasn’t _quite_ Maggie.

Sure, she still had her dark hair and vampire fang smile but there was something different about her. The blue dress had been replaced with a burgundy leather jacket, a black t-shirt, a torn pair of jeans and combat boots. Her eyes weren’t a luminescent green, but instead a caramel brown that glinted in the sunlight. She looked human.

Alex grabbed the photo and strode out of the room. Maggie followed without a word. In the kitchen, Eliza was still sat at the table with her blanket around her shoulders. Kara was sat beside her with her nose in a book that was thicker than Alex’s entire torso, and she was attempting to get Eliza reading it too. Winn was perched atop the island with a computer beside him and somebody hunched over its screen. Alex ignored them and slipped the photo in front of Kara’s book.

“Look.”

Kara took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. She was sleepy, and the lack of light in the apartment was making them strain. She sighed and took hold of the photo, peering at it tiredly. There was a pause as she looked at it, scanning over the figures through the dimmed light. Finally, after what felt like forever, the light bulb went off and the penny dropped.

“That’s Maggie!” Kara pointed. “She looks so different!”

“I know.” Alex replied. “So, the question is, how did she end up like this?”

“Here, let me have a look.” A voice said. Alex turned, feeling her heart sink as she recognised the voice. The figure who had been hunched over the computer screen stepped into the light to reveal her pale skin, braided red hair and thick glasses. Sophie Wilde still had that annoying smirk on her face that drove Alex up the wall. She took the photo from Kara and squinted at it through her glasses. After a moment, she pointed to the photo. “Who’s this other woman?”

Alex glared at Winn. “What is _she_ doing here?”

Winn opened his mouth to protest, but Kara beat him to it. “Alex, we don’t have time for you to be holding grudges. Sophie’s here to help us get into Maggie’s code, so shut up and let her help.”

Alex raised a single eyebrow, but ignored Kara’s little jab. She eyed Sophie again. “Why do you want to help us?”

Sophie returned to her laptop. “Mm, you’ve heard my argument, Alex. If synths are capable of conscious thought, then they ought to deserve them.” She glanced at Alex over her shoulder. “Don’t you think?”

Alex shuffled from one foot to the other uncomfortably. She hadn’t thought much of their argument because she’d been so busy with Maggie, but now looking back, Sophie had been right. Alex let her go back to the laptop.

“I don’t know who the other woman is.” She finally admitted. “What about the two guys? Do you know who they are?”

Sophie brought up an image on the laptop. It depicted a man with light brown hair that was flecked with grey at the roots. A pair of half-moon glasses sat on his crooked nose and made him look even older than he was. He was one of the men in the photo.

“This is Dr. David Elster. He created the synth project.” She stated. Kara raised her head from her books, and came to look at the photo over Sophie’s shoulder.

“Do you think he’s the one who made the sentient code?” She asked. “I couldn’t find out much about him in the books, or on the internet.”

“Yeah, he was a bit of a recluse after the Luthor-Elster split. Died a few years later.” Sophie confirmed. “We learned about it in class.”

“What about partners?” Winn piped up. “He can’t have made the synth project by himself, and it can’t have been just him and the Danvers doing it, right?”

Sophie shook her head and pulled up another photo. This was another man, the other one in the Eliza’s photo. Like Dr Elster, this man had silvery hair and a pair of glasses perched on his nose. However, in the lighting of this more professional photo, Alex could see his face better. He had dark eyes, a grey stubble, and a tanned complexion that wasn’t clear in the original photo. His mouth, which was open, had two ever-so-slightly pointed canines.

“Who’s that?” Alex questioned. She didn’t mean for her voice to come out quite so strangled, but she’d been holding in a breath without realising it.

“That’s Oscar Rodas.” Sophie frowned. “He was one of their chief engineers.”

“What happened to him? I didn’t see his name mentioned at all.” Kara joined.

Sophie shrugged. “I don’t know. It doesn’t say. I guess he must’ve left when the Elsters and the Danvers’ did.”

Alex looked to Maggie, who had been stood to the side patiently. She beckoned her over and indicated to the man on the laptop. “Maggie, do you know an Oscar Rodas? Can you find out more about him?”

Maggie was quiet, processing Alex’s question. Everybody stopped what they were doing to await her answer. Finally, she spoke:

“My search for Oscar Rodas has concluded that Mr Rodas was the chief engineer of the synth project, conducted by David Elster, Jeremiah Danvers and Eliza Danvers. He played a key role in developing synthetic technology and was the first engineer to create….” Maggie faltered. She blinked once, then twice, paused and then a third time. “I’m sorry, that information is classified.”

The group exchanged worried glances. Winn was the first to speak. He let out a low whistle and shook his head.

“Curiouser and curiouser.” He muttered.

Alex shook her head. “Maggie, is he still alive?”

There was another short pause. _“No._ Oscar Rodas passed away three years, six months, two weeks and four days ago. He is survived by his sister, Gabriella.”

“Any idea where she is?” Maggie didn’t reply. Alex frowned, and waved her hand in front of her face. “Maggie?”

Kara raised an eyebrow. “Has she frozen?”

“I don’t think she can tell you. Default code must be hiding something. Memory probably.” Sophie responded. She swivelled back to her computer. “C’mon, let’s try and lift this code out. Maybe, if we get that working, she’ll be able to tell us something.”

She reached for Maggie’s charging cord, but Alex stopped her. “I’ll do it.”

As Alex sat Maggie on a stool, their eyes met. There was nothing in Maggie’s, of course, apart from a vague flicker that could be misinterpreted for curiosity or just plain observation. In Alex’s, there was a hope that she was looking back at a real person, the person she’d seen in the photo. In Alex’s eyes, she wondered how the woman in the photo, in all her externalized bliss, had become this shell, this host of undetermined human emotion. Could she feel? Was she still that woman in the burgundy leather jacket? Alex’s hand ghosted over Maggie’s as she plugged the cord into her side, and her fingers traced over it as if she were drawing the bones that weren’t underneath. A small, but intimate act that Maggie didn’t react to. Alex let Sophie plug the other end of the cord into her laptop.

The big black screen of blue coding appeared and started listing in a quiet whir. Sophie let out a whistle as it wrote itself out. “Fucking hell. That’s _seventeen thousand_ pages of code.”

“Damn. Do you know what to do?” Winn rose his eyebrows at the impressive coding.

Sophie stared at it. “…Yeah.” She didn’t speak much as she started to furiously click at her keyboard. “There’s a root system I can access with a direct clone key. It might thin it all out a bit and –“ She let out a huff.

“What?”

“Direct access didn’t work.” She glanced at Maggie. “When she became conscious before she must’ve retreated deeper into the default code, tried to erase herself more.”

“Erase herself?” Alex echoed. “What does that mean?”

Sophie made a gesture. “The sentient code is like a virus. Every time it surfaces, the default she’s been set to sees it as dangerous, tries to delete itself. She’s constantly resetting herself.”

“So, what does _that_ mean?”

“That means we’ll be lucky if there’s any of what’s left of Maggie still in there.”

“You’d better get her out, and quick.”

As Sophie’s fingers got to work again, Alex glanced around the room. Kara had retreated to the kitchen table and was re-attempting her research with Eliza, but it seemed to be doing nothing. As Alex watched, she wondered for a moment whether she should’ve gotten her sister involved in this. Apart from buying Maggie, Kara had nothing to do with any of this, and Alex didn’t want to see her get hurt. If worse came to worse, Alex would make sure Kara escaped.

Sophie was muttering through her working again. “Jesus, Dr Elster was brilliant. He boiled down the enigma of the human mind to seventeen thousand pages of code. That’s insane.” She made another noise of frustration. “I’ve got the code lifted, in pieces but it keeps redirecting over the top of it – trying to delete itself again.”

“Try a censor.” Winn suggested.

“That’s too basic. I can try a de-authentication attack. It might erase the default.” Sophie looked up from her code and indicated to Alex. “Ask her some questions. I want to hear what she’s thinking.”

“Uh…” Alex racked her brain for some answers. “Maggie, tell me what happened on the day we got you.”

Maggie blinked, processing the question. “The sixth of November. Kara Danvers is my primary user. Alexandra Danvers, Eliza Danvers are my secondary users.” Sophie clicked a button and Maggie restarted talking, like somebody had pressed replay on a song. “The sixth of Novemb- _*click*_ The sixth - _*click*_ The…”

The more Sophie clicked, the more Maggie’s head jerked and her words restarted again. Alex could hear Eliza getting agitated at the noise, but she ignored it. Kara would keep her calm. Winn exchanged a worried glance with the women, fearful of Maggie’s glitching voice. It was starting to warp in and out.

“The sixth _*click*_ The - _*click* *click*_ The-“

Alex wanted to throw up. Every click jerked Maggie’s head at violent angles and blue blood started to spit from her mouth. Her hair tumbled in front of her eyes in a messy heap, shielding her face. Her body shuddered and shook as if it were being shocked by volts of electricity. Alex swallowed as she felt sick build up in her throat.

“Stop it! You’re hurting her!” She tried to shout, but her voice could barely make above a murmur.

“I’ve nearly got it…hold on…” Sophie held down the space bar, and her laptop started blaring a high-pitched wail. “Pull it! Pull it _now_!”

Alex moved first, yanking the white cord from Maggie’s side and nearly toppling both of them off of the stool. Maggie stopped speaking and her head fell limp, shutting down. There was an eerie silence in the apartment as nobody spoke, nobody dared break the tension in the room. Eliza was trying to get up, now thoroughly distracted from Kara’s task, but the blonde held her to the table firmly.

It was Winn who finally spoke, and with a nervous tone: “So, what now?”

Alex couldn’t stop staring at Maggie. She looked so lifeless, limped over like that. It hadn’t really bothered her before, but now she found it unsettling. Slowly, slow as she could, she reached her out and pressed two fingers to the skin beneath Maggie’s chin. She felt warm to the touch, like her skin was real.

As Maggie’s restart noise sounded out, Winn gently reached out and took Alex back by her shoulder to stand her beside him. On most days, if Winn had done that she would’ve broken his arm but in this occasion, she let it slide. In fact, she wished he would hold her hand because she could feel her heart crashing against her ribs and if she opened her mouth: she was going to be sick.

Maggie’s head lifted, and her whole upper body moved with it as if she were stretching out a sore ache. Her eyes opened, black. Blacker than ebony. She didn’t look at anybody in particular, or didn’t seem to notice them anyway. Her eyes blinked and this time, they were back to their original green. The pupils moved, first to Winn, then to Alex. Maggie blinked again.

“Don’t…” Her voice was hoarse and lagged. She shut her mouth and opened it. Her tongue poked out and tasted the air. Maggie made a face, but then shook herself back into the room. “Don’t…be…scared.”

Alex’s heart was still pounding. She didn’t know what to say. Maggie was different, she knew it. The synth was looking around and squinting through the darkness. Sophie nudged Alex’s arm. “Ask her that question again, the same one as before.”

Alex couldn’t speak. Her tongue felt like it had swollen and stuck in her throat. In fact, she barely heard Sophie speak. Her ears felt like they were full of cloth, and everything was weird and warped. Sophie nudged her again, but there was no response.

Maggie stood. Nobody dared move. The green eyes scanned the floor, her shoes and then the palms of her hands. The expression on her face was fascinated but relaxed, as if she were studying an old memory. Maggie’s hands turned, and overturned again a couple of times. When Eliza made another noise of irritation, Maggie caught it and looked up. In the dark, she couldn’t see Eliza properly, so her eyes found Alex first.

“Don’t be scared, Alex. I won’t hurt you.” She spoke. Her voice spoke differently now. It had an accent, and it wavered up and down in an almost cheery kind of tone. “I will not hurt you, any of you.”

“You can feel, can’t you?” Winn blurted out.

Maggie nodded. “My name is Maggie. Maggie Sawyer. I’m in here.” She pointed to her head. “This code could try and delete itself at any time, I don’t know how much time we have.”

“Who are you?” Sophie demanded. “Tell us who you really are. How are you like this?”

Maggie took a deep breath, and spoke fast. “My name is Maggie Sawyer. I was created sixteen years ago by Dr David Elster, Dr Eliza Danvers and Dr Jeremiah Danvers, and Mr Rodas. I was created for the purpose of looking after Mr Rodas’ sister, Gabriella Sawyer, and was so created in her image to be passed off as her niece instead of a sentient synth.”

Nobody could form a response to that. What kind of answer was there? Maggie knew she’d lost them to their dumbfounded reactions, so she reached out and took Alex’s hand in both of hers. Her hands were still warm, and she could feel how cold Alex’s were because she rubbed it between hers.

“I’m real, Alex. Please, help me. I need to get back to Gabriella.”

Alex wanted to pull her hand away. “I don’t know what you are, and I don’t understand…any of this. How did you end up here?”

A solemn atmosphere washed over Maggie as she frowned, trying to remember everything. A crease formed between her eyebrows and practically knitted them together in concentration. “I don’t know.” She looked frightened. “I can’t remember.”

Winn, who’d now let go of Alex, reached out and put his hand on Maggie’s shoulder. “I’m sure we can help you, right guys?”

Sophie nodded, as did Kara from her seat at the table. Maggie remained wary of Alex, but the redhead stepped forward and slowly reached out. Alex could feel something was pulling her towards Maggie like an invisible string being wrapped around somebody’s hand. When her fingertips brushed against Maggie’s, there was a small electric shock that neither of them seemed to notice. She was smooth to the touch. Her hands had no callouses, no marks of human labour that had exhausted her body over the past fifteen years. Physically, she was the exact same as the day she’d been created. Alex’s hand slipped into Maggie’s and gripped it firmly.

“We’ll help you.” She promised.

Maggie smiled, and she squeezed Alex’s hand. “Thank you, Alex.” She nodded.

Her mouth opened to say something further but a figure came into the light of the kitchen that took Maggie’s words away. Kara guided Eliza in by her elbow, letting her mother make her own way towards the conscious synthetic stood in the middle of their kitchen. She couldn’t keep her strapped to the table for the entire conversation.

Eliza peered around the kitchen, curiously studying the faces that gazed back at her with equal fascination. When her baby-blues that looked so much like Kara’s fell upon Maggie, they lit up.

“Maggie! Oh, it’s so good to see you!” She abandoned Kara’s side and embraced Maggie as if they were old friends. It seemed they were because Maggie melted into the hug, and a proper smile graced her face.

“Dr Danvers? Is that really you?”

Eliza let her go and brushed her hair back out of her face. “It’s been so long. How have you been holding up? Short circuited at all?”

Maggie shook her head. “No, nothing. Not that I can remember.”

As the two talked, Kara and Alex exchanged confused glances. Their mother certainly knew how to pick her moments of mental lucidity. Eliza was like her old self in these precious occasions, bright and savvy and no-nonsense. She looked Maggie up and down.

“What are you _wearing_?” She chuckled. “You look like one of the carer prototypes.”

Maggie poked at the flimsy blue dress. “Yeah, I do, don’t I? I don’t know how I got like this. Everything’s a bit hazy.”

Kara piped up. “I bought you as a carer synth for Mom. Those are the clothes you came in.”

Alex had her own set of questions. “What _do_ you remember, Maggie?” She glanced over her shoulder at Sophie, who was packing up her laptop. “Do you think we could look at her memory hard-drive?”

The redhead looked doubtful. “No, that thing is fucked. If I took it out, it’d probably just fizzle out in my hand. To be honest, Alex, I don’t think you should touch anything internally – anything could happen.”

“Oh.” Alex frowned as Sophie slipped her laptop into her bag. “Where are you going?”

“I’ve got the code saved on a hard-drive. If I can crack it properly, we might be able to apply it to other synthetics and give them sentiency.” She delved a hand into her pocket and held up two small hard-drives, one black and one red. “-and I have a copy.”

“You think you can make it a proper modification?” Alex questioned as Sophie handed Winn the red drive.

She shrugged. “Maybe. I’m gonna ask around some hackers, they’ll know something I’m sure.” Sophie met eyes with everyone around the room, settling on Maggie’s as she shouldered her backpack. “Good luck, Maggie. I hope you find your aunt.”

She left before anybody could say anything, be it words of thanks or protests of departure. Alex sighed when the door shut behind her: people were weird. There was a niggling feeling at the back of her mind that she couldn’t quite put her finger on, so she ignored it. It would come to her later.

Alex turned back to Maggie. “So, what do we do now?”

Maggie still had a frown on her face, trying to remember anything from before the past week. It was all a bit overwhelming for her, it seemed, and Alex couldn’t blame her. The last twenty minutes had felt like a fever dream.

Evidently, Kara felt it too because she placed both hands on either side of Eliza’s upper arms and leaned in close. “C’mon, Mom, it’s getting late. We should get you into bed.”

Eliza quietly complied, letting Kara guide her out of the room. Winn followed. Maggie watched them go, her frown deepening as Eliza waved her a vague goodbye. Alex, noticing her confusion, stepped forward.

“She was in an accident a few years back. An eighteen-wheeler went straight into the side of her and Dad’s car. It hit Dad’s side.”

Maggie gazed at her feet. “I’m sorry to hear that.” Slowly, slower than time imagined, her hand reached out to Alex’s and settled warmly on top of it. There was a long line of silence that went on for about forty seconds before Maggie spoke again. “You’re afraid you’ll end up like her.” She murmured cautiously. “That you won’t be able to remember things.”

Alex took her hand away. “You can feel that?”

Maggie nodded. “Yes.”

“What do you feel now?”

“Tired.” Her face made a pained expression. “Really tired.”

Alex picked up her charging cord. “C’mon, we’ll put you on charge for the night. We’re going to see the Luthors in the morning.” Maggie looked at the cord warily. Alex furrowed her eyebrows. “What’s the matter?”

Maggie indicated to the cord. “What if _that_ resets my code again?”

“Then we’ll fix you.” Alex said simply.

“You will?”

Alex nodded. “Of course.”

“Promise?”

Alex almost laughed at the childish nature of the question but she refrained, because Maggie was being deadly serious. Instead, she helped Maggie sit on the stool and unzip the side of her dress. Just before she plugged the cord in, she smiled.

“Ride or die. I promise.” When the cord plugged into her side, Maggie hissed through her teeth that made Alex stop in her tracks. “Does that hurt?”

“A little.” Maggie admitted.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s nice to feel something.”

Alex smiled. “Jesus. You’re a bit morbid, you know that?”

Maggie returned the grin, flashing her little vampire fangs. “I’ve been told. Or, at least, I think I have.”

“So, you don’t have your pain sensors turned off?”

Maggie shook her head. “No. Being human is about feeling everything, even if that means feeling the bad things.”

“Hm, I can see that. Do you get to feel anything other than pain?”

“Of course.”

“What if you felt pain all the time?” Alex asked, crossing over to turn the power switch on. “Would it still be worth it?”

Maggie considered that for a few seconds. Her face remained still and considerate, occasionally her bright green eyes flicked from side to side as she thought. Finally, they looked back at Alex’s. “Yes.” She answered. “Yes, I think it would.”

Alex didn’t respond. Instead she made a quiet ‘goodnight’ and flicked the power switch. Maggie’s eyes closed, and her fingers began to twitch in her lap as she charged.

+

Kara took Alex’s bed; Winn took Kara’s and Alex took the couch. Through the dark, she could hear the power surging through Maggie’s charging cord, and even the gentle tapping of her finger against her palm. Alex didn’t know how long she slept for – a couple of hours, maybe – before a finger was being prodded into her cheek. She peeked her eyes open, and saw nothing but green. Two, emerald-green eyes shining through the pitch black and staring back at her with amused curiosity.

“Alex?” Maggie’s voice was barely above a whisper. “Alex? Are you awake?”

“No.” Alex grumbled. She hated being woken up, by sentient synth or otherwise. “What do you want?”

“I’m fully charged.”

“Good for you.” She pulled the blanket over her head.

“Let’s go out and do something.”

Alex squinted. “What?”

“Come on. You and me.” Maggie urged, shaking her again. “Let’s have an adventure.”

“Mmm…we have to see the Luthors in the morning.” Alex groaned.

“Not for another seven hours. Please, Alex. I want to see life in the real world. Real, actual human life.” She poked Alex’s forehead through the blanket. “Come with me.”

Alex’s head poked out. “You know those people who told you that you’re a bit morbid?”

“Yeah?”

“Did they ever tell you that you’re really annoying as well?”

Maggie returned a cheeky grin. “No, but I have a feeling you’re about to.”

“Good to see you’re still feeling.”

Knowing Alex wasn’t going to get up by herself, Maggie snuck an arm under the blanket and managed to wrap herself around Alex’s torso. She picked her up as if she weighed nothing and plopped Alex on her feet.

Alex groaned more. “Remind me to never let you re-charge ever again.” She sighed and brushed down the clothes she hadn’t changed out of.

Maggie chuckled. “Does this mean you’re going to come with me?”

The redhead glared at her through the dark, wondering whether to laugh or smack her upside the head for being a little shit. Instead, she just rolled her eyes. “Where do you want to go to?”

Maggie beamed with excitement, crossing the living room to gaze out of one of the windows at the bustling city below. “Anywhere.”

Alex’s smile faded when she looked Maggie up and down. “We need to change what you’re wearing.” She indicated to her eyes. “-and do something about those. You can’t go dancing looking like a regular synth. C’mon, you can borrow something of mine.”

“We’re going dancing?”

Alex padded to her bedroom door. “We’re going dancing.”

Luckily for the pair, both Kara and Eliza were quite heavy sleepers when they were tired. If they were out, they were _out_. Therefore, Alex could breeze into the room, rifle through the closet, and leave with making as much noise as she could without them stirring. In the dark, she managed to make out one of her old band t-shirts, a suede jacket, a pair of Kara’s pants (god knows what colour), and a pair of Kara’s lace-up Dune brogues that she’d gotten for her birthday. Alex snuck out as quietly as she could, whispering a silent apology to her sister for stealing her clothes. She’d survive.

Thankfully, the clothes fit Maggie. The suede jacket, which turned out to be a blue-ish periwinkle kind of colour, actually looked better on Maggie than it did on Alex. Kara’s trousers – which were an olive green – had to be rolled at the ends on account of Maggie being quite a few inches shorter than originally anticipated. Luckily, Alex snuck back again and got her a belt for her tiny waist. At least the shoes fit her without an issue. In fact, Maggie looked quite stylish but that could be said of anyone who’d just gotten changed out of a plain, blue dress and flat pumps. 

“You clean up nice.” Alex managed, after a painfully long silence in which she hadn’t noticed how she was staring. “The hair, and the clothes I mean – you look nice.”

“What about my eyes?” Maggie questioned as she tucked the shirt into the top of the trousers. Despite the odd assortment of colours, she actually managed to pull them off pretty well, in Alex’s opinion. It also helped that she was pretty, but she wasn’t about to admit that. “They’re still synth-green.”

Alex plucked her jacket off the hook and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. “Put these on.”

Maggie took them, and grimaced. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t people usually wear sunglasses during the day time?”

Alex rolled her eyes, and opened the door. “Honestly, you have no faith in me at all, I swear.” She let Maggie pass her through the doorway and shut it quietly behind her. “Don’t worry. I’ve got an idea.”

+

There were many times in Alex’s life where she wished she could go back to Midvale and have the childhood she’d wanted. The one where she was surrounded by picturesque mountains, shimmering lakes and idyllic fields that stretched on for miles and miles. A place where she wouldn’t see civilisation for days at a time.

This was not one of those times.

For once in her life, Alex embraced the anonymity of the city. Despite it being nearly four in the morning, nobody noticed how she and Maggie walked down the street completely in step with one another. Nobody noticed the sunglasses that hid Maggie’s synthetic-green eyes, nor did they even notice she was a synth. Alex had to hand it to her: she really had the human-walk down to a science.

Every so often she’d trip over her own feet, just enough to stumble and pick herself up again in a moment of seconds. Her shoulders sagged and her arms swayed the way regular synths didn’t. If she felt someone was looking at her for too long, Maggie’s hand would slip into Alex’s as if to reassure herself. Alex didn’t mind – in fact - it felt quite nice. She wasn’t sure if it was the sensation of Maggie’s hand in hers, or knowing that Maggie felt safe with her, but it made her feel like she was on top of the world. Like she could fly, almost.

Maggie squeezed Alex’s hand now, and her chin bumped against her shoulder so she could speak in her ear. “Where are we going?” She asked quietly.

Alex knew Maggie was only resting her chin on her shoulder so passers-by didn’t hear their obviously irregular conversation, but it still made butterflies flutter in her stomach. Alex nodded to a building coming up on their left. “There.”

Maggie frowned. “A shopping mall?” Her chin came off the shoulder and she fixed Alex with confusion. “I thought we were going dancing.”

“We are.” Alex reassured. “But we have to get something first. It’ll sort _those_ out.”

She gestured to the sunglasses, and they walked on.

National City had a lot of shopping malls, one every five-hundred yards it seemed. Alex had been dragged to most of them, either by Kara or her mother. This one – Starlight Mall - was thankfully a little more bearable than the others. In a past life, it had seen some glory that others hadn’t. With huge, golden bronze pillars that stretched three floors up and an intricately tiled flooring, Starlight had once been on par elite with the Selfridges. Unfortunately, over time, business had lessened and its stardom had faded so it stood like an empty shell filled with hollow, scape stores and storekeepers alike. Alex didn’t like it for the shopping, but for its old glamour. The original red velvet curtains were still draped from the ceiling, wrapped to the sides with golden rope that was thicker than Alex’s torso. They creaked occasionally from the draft that blew through one of its broken windows, but never loosened, as if they’d been there for hundreds of years.

Alex held Maggie’s hand as they walked its halls. Although it was early in the morning, most of its stores were still open. Barely presentable, but open. Most of them were run-down synth stores, either offering cheap second or third-hand synths to people who couldn’t afford the upgraded ones or junkies who wanted to mess around their hacking skills. The third kind of people who attended these stores were looking to make illegal bets on synth fights, hence why Alex held Maggie’s hand a little tighter when she noticed a few men lurking after them with sunken eyes.

Maggie leaned a little closer to Alex’s ear as they hurried past. “Is it safe to be here?” She whispered, glancing warily at the men’s turning heads.

“Not really.” Alex hushed back. “But it’s the best place for what we need. Look.”

She pointed a little way ahead of them. Wedged between one of the pillars and a vape store was a tiny shop that consisted only of white racks with small boxes hung on them. On closer inspection, Maggie saw the boxes contained little bowl-shaped plastic rings and all of them varied in colour. Some were green, others blue and even a few had some ridiculous colours like red and white. They were contact lenses.

“Wait here.” Alex whispered.

Maggie hung back by the racks whilst Alex browsed through the boxes. Every so often she would hold one up to try and subtly show Maggie. One blink for no, two for yes. It took a while, and Maggie was pretty sure they weren’t being subtle to the shopkeeper at all, but she was enjoying the odd task. Alex kept holding up ridiculous colours like bright white and even rainbow technicolour at one point, and Maggie had to do her best not to laugh. She almost had half a mind to agree to the black ones with the David Bowie stripe. As Alex continued to breeze through, Maggie kept an eye on the men from the other stores. They were inching closer and closer, muttering amongst themselves with their gazes fixed solely on Maggie.

Thankfully, Alex held up a suitable colour and Maggie just nodded her head, hoping she’d hurry up. When she turned to purchase the lenses, Maggie could hear pieces of the conversation that were growing louder and louder.

_“Look at the way its standing! It can’t be real!”_

_“I’m telling you; they were holding hands.”_

Maggie tried to look normal. She hadn’t even thought about Alex holding her hand: it had felt so natural to her that it hadn’t occurred that it wasn’t normal synth behaviour. Maggie tried to keep her focus on Alex, urging her to hurry up and for them to get out of here. Thankfully, it seemed Alex got the message and reached her before the lurkers did.

“There we go, now we can- are you alright?” Alex stopped, and finally noticed their growing company. She turned to them. “Can I help you?”

One of the them, a particularly scrawny-looking man of about fifty, pointed at Maggie. “She’s a synthetic.”

Alex looked to Maggie, then back to the men in a calm, collected manner. “No, she isn’t.”

“Yes, she is.”

Maggie knew if she had a real heart, it would be racing right now. Instead, what she felt was a sinking feeling in her chest – but a sinking of what she couldn’t tell. Alex straightened up a little, jutting out her chin.

“Gentlemen, my friend Maggie here is what’s known as a _synthie_.”

“A what?” He echoed.

“It’s a subculture of humans pretending to be synths by mimicking their fashions, speech, etc. Behaviour too.” Alex continued, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Maggie was trying not to smile: Alex’s skill of bullshitting was unbelievable.

“She’s not dressed like a synth.” The man pointed out, gesturing to Maggie’s jacket and lace-up shoes. “Synthetics don’t wear that shit.”

“We’re trying to get Maggie out of this phase. You know –“Alex made a gesture. “-makes her a bit funny in the head. That’s why I’ve got her normal contact lenses. She can take the green ones out but still have the shield of her regular eyes.”

“You’re bullshitting.”

“We’ve been making big steps, haven’t we Mags? Got you in normal clothing for the first time in two months.”

Alex nudged Maggie’s arm. The brunette turned her head and made a stiff, synth-like nod. “Yes, Alex.” She looked at the men, who stared at her dumbfounded. “We are making…great progress.”

It was the human fault of Maggie’s pause that seemed to make the men reconsider. They muttered amongst themselves, looking Maggie and Alex up and down with judged confusion. After a few minutes, one of them just murmured ‘weirdos’ and they all sank back into the shadows they’d come from.

Once they were out of earshot, Alex let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding in. “Fuck me.” She exhaled.

Maggie grinned. “That was amazing. Did you come up with that on the spot?”

Alex shook her head. “No. Kara went through a phase.” She muttered, offering a light laugh. The silence around her was making her uncomfortable. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

Maggie nodded, and they fell into step with each other again. Alex handed her the little box and Maggie peered at it through the dim lighting. She’d been in such a panic that she hadn’t properly looked at the colour of the lenses Alex had picked out. When they emerged back out onto the street, and she could see them better, Maggie gasped.

Alex rose her eyebrows. “What? What is it?”

Maggie held the lenses up to the light, and smiled. “They’re just like my old ones.” She said. Alex frowned, so Maggie stepped closer. “When I had to look after Gabriella, I had to wear contacts when we were out in public. These are the same colour.”

“Oh.”

Maggie opened the box and placed one lens delicately on her finger. “Give me a hand?”

Alex nodded dumbly. “Sure.”

She held Maggie’s eye open carefully, and waited as Maggie put the lenses into her eyes. When Alex let go, Maggie blinked a few times, testing them out.

Alex watched her with reserved curiosity. Maggie seemed so alien and yet, so human. She tested her new eyes as if she’d never seen the world before but she moved so unnaturally human it was more like she was having a weird trip of drugs. But when Maggie looked at Alex with two big, brown orbs that glinted slightly in the dim streetlight – Alex forgot every thought in her head and could only find one word that slipped out of her mouth before her brain could stop it:

“Beautiful.”

Maggie couldn’t blush, she wasn’t physically programmed to, but she could smile, and did. Then she started laughing because Alex’s eyes nearly fell out of her head when she realised what she’d said.

“Geez, Danvers. You getting soft on me?” She grinned as Alex tried to cover _her_ blush with her hands.

Alex cringed. “Pretend you didn’t hear that, please.”

Maggie only shook her head, and kept smiling. “Too late. I’ve heard it, and it’s in the mainframe now.” She replied, making a gesture to her head. “Can’t forget.”

“Oh, so _that_ you can remember.” Alex feigned drama. “How helpful of you. You can remember me saying something dumb because you’re actually quite pretty but you can’t remember how you got here.”

They started walking again and Maggie retained her clumsy-human walk. “Mhm, maybe it’s selective memory. Maybe I can only remember when pretty girls tell me pretty things.” Her hand fell into Alex’s. “Not a bad memory to have, if I’m being honest.”

Alex didn’t respond. She could feel the blush coming back to her cheeks as Maggie squeezed her hand and intertwined their fingers together. It felt so strangely natural, as if Maggie’s hands were specifically made to fit in hers.

Maggie’s fingers squeezed her again, and another swarm of butterflies fluttered around Alex’s stomach, but Maggie only smiled sweetly. “Where are we going now?”

+

Al’s Dive Bar was one of the few bars in National City. One of the few Alex felt comfortable in anyway. It was subtle, yet welcoming enough to be a place that Alex knew she belonged in and didn’t feel like a total outsider. It seemed to be the same for Maggie because the moment they stepped over the threshold, she beamed brighter than she did while they’d been walking.

“Oh _, wow_.”

To her, the bar was an artwork. From its creaking rafters to barely-shined pool table balls and bar that smelled faintly of a woman’s perfume, Maggie seemed to find it all magical. Alex leaned back against the door frame and watched as she wondered around: running her fingers over the pool table, glancing up at the dim lights that hung above it and grinning when she spotted an empty booth.

“Alex, there’s a seat over here!” She waved her over. Alex had almost lost herself to her own thoughts when Maggie’s voice pierced through them. She’d been thinking if she’d met Maggie as _Maggie,_ then perhaps she wouldn’t have been so harsh. They would’ve thought of each other differently, that she knew. When Alex didn’t move from her position in the doorway, Maggie crossed back over the bar and grabbed her hand to practically drag her to the booth. “Where’s that head of yours? We’re here to have fun!”

Alex laughed and shook her head. “Sorry. Was just thinking about some things.” They sat down: Maggie facing the door, Alex facing Maggie. “The drinks are good here. Can you drink?”

Maggie made a gesture with her hand. “Kind of. I can taste it, and I can swallow it, but it doesn’t come out the other end, so to speak.” Her finger pressed against her throat. “There’s a thin plastic bag I can empty when I eat or drink.”

Alex nodded her understanding. “That’s cool.” She pushed one of the drink menus towards her. “It’s on me.”

“Kind of has to be. I don’t have any money, or a job to get money from.” Maggie grinned. She peered at the menu, blinking a few times with the little crease line forming between her brows. She was still getting used to the new contacts, it seemed. Finally, her thumb landed on a drink. “That one. Tequila.”

“Good choice.”

Maggie settled into the booth properly as Alex ordered their drinks. The bar was pretty quiet which wasn’t surprising given the hour. Its only inhabitants seemed to be the bartender, her and Alex, and a few other guys who all seemed older than the bar itself. Maggie noticed, as Alex passed these men, she greeted them each by name. They didn’t reply with much enthusiasm, but they addressed her by name too so it was apparent they knew each other to some extent. Maggie wondered what kind of friends Alex kept.

She didn’t wonder for long because Alex came back with their drinks about three seconds after the thought popped into her head.

“Do you know everybody here?” She blurted out.

Alex put the drinks down with raised eyebrows. “’Uh, kind of. Why’d you ask?”

Maggie shrugged, taking her tequila in both hands. “Oh, it’s nothing. I was just curious – they’re not the kind of guys I’d take you to be friends with.”

Alex’s drink paused before it reached her lips. She frowned. “What kind of guys do you take me to be friends with?”

Maggie suddenly felt a little embarrassed. “Oh, I don’t mean like that! I mean – no…fuck, I’m fucking this up. I mean –“

Her rambles were interrupted by a joyous sound that took Maggie nearly five whole seconds to realise it was Alex laughing. She hadn’t heard her laugh before, not properly.

“Calm down, Maggie, I’m only messing with you.” She sniggered, and took a sip of her drink through her laughter. She gestured to one of the men at the bar. He was hunched over a scotch, and his face was mostly hidden by long, greying mullet and dark red baseball cap but from what Maggie could see, he was making kind conversation with the bartender. “That’s Huck, okay? I was walking home from school once and he was on the sidewalk and asked if I wanted a drink. I said no, but he said that he could tell I wanted one. I did. I’d failed my exam, again, and wanted to quit but he took me here anyway. I asked why he thought I needed a drink and he thought I’d broken up with a girl or something.”

Maggie’s heart lifted when Alex paused to smile at the memory. The redhead looked over her shoulder and toasted her drink to the man, Huck. He toasted back, one to Alex and one to Maggie, then returned to his conversation with the bartender.

“He invited me here and we just talked, for hours and hours.” Alex continued. “Not about anything in particular, just random talking. It wasn’t anything special, or funny – but it was just the kindness he showed me. It was random, and was when I really needed it, and I didn’t even have to ask. I don’t know, it was special. He was just there.”

“There when you needed someone.” Maggie nodded her understanding. “We all need somebody like that.”

Alex returned the nod. “Did you ever have anyone? To talk to, I mean.”

Maggie shrugged. She played with the tequila glass between her fingers, and suddenly Alex felt a little intrusive, like she’d stepped on Maggie’s toes a bit. As she went to wave the question off, tell Maggie she didn’t have to answer if she didn’t want to, Maggie lifted her head again.

“My aunt, I think. I can’t remember much. Can’t remember how long ago it was either. Everything’s a little muddled.” She muttered. “But I know they were good talks, whatever they were about.”

“Do you remember your aunt?”

Maggie shook her head. “No. I know she looked a bit like me, and I know she was sick, but nothing else.”

Alex felt a pang of sadness as Maggie’s eyes fell to her lap once more. “Sounds like she needed you. You’re wanted.”

“If I were wanted, why am I here?” Maggie snapped with an unfamiliar anger that made Alex sit up straight. “If I were wanted, my aunt would’ve found me and I wouldn’t have ended up here, in the middle of a city I don’t know. I would be safe, and at home, and happy.”

Alex reached across the table, and her hand held onto Maggie’s tightly. She squeezed it and offered what she hoped was a comforting look. “You’re safe here, with me. I won’t let anything happen to you, alright? You know that?” She squeezed Maggie’s hand a second time. “I know we haven’t known each other long but I want you to know that. It looks like our families were friends, at least, so I’m sure returning kindness can’t be far from them. We’ll get you back home, Maggie. I promise.”

Synthetics couldn’t cry – they weren’t programmed to – but Maggie hung her head to hide her face from Alex’s. She was sad, and she had no way of properly expressing it, and that hurt her even more. Alex couldn’t imagine what it was like to be without her family. From a young age, she did practically everything with Kara and since Eliza’s accident, everything with her too. She wasn’t sure how she’d live without them _. It must be so much worse for Maggie_ , she thought, _she was **built** to be with her family. _Maggie took her drink and downed it. Of course, she couldn’t taste it and she couldn’t feel the effects of the alcohol – but it didn’t seem to matter to her. She smiled.

“Aren’t we supposed to be dancing?”

Alex returned a small smile, glad to move onto a brighter subject. She made a mental note that they’d come back to this at another time, whether Maggie liked it or not. “Yeah, we are. Jukebox is over there.”

Maggie headed for the beaten-up Bubbler, and evidently found a song she remembered because she grinned when she selected it. It took a few seconds on account of the Bubbler probably being older than Alex and Maggie combined but soon the quiet tunes of Billy Joel’s Piano Man hummed into the dive. Alex chuckled as Maggie turned around, making embarrassingly clumsy dance moves as she did.

“Are you really dancing to Piano Man? This song is shit to dance to!”

Maggie pulled Alex to her feet, much to the redhead’s despair at leaving her drink un-downed. “It is not! You’ve just got to give it a few minutes!”

“Nobody else is dancing!”

“Who cares!”

Maggie threw her head back, letting her hair spill down her back and the light to catch her face as she laughed. Her fingers were locked in with Alex’s as if they’d never let go. Alex hoped they never would. Her heart felt almost euphoric as Maggie dragged them over to the space by the pool tables, like it could lift her clear off the ground. Thankfully, the song hit its chorus and they could dance without looking like complete fools. Nobody else was dancing, but seemed to bother nobody anyway.

“This is awful!” Alex’s sides hurt from laughing and she was soon having to clutch them so she didn’t double over. “You’ve got awful music taste!”

“Choose something better then!” Maggie yelped over the next blast of Billy Joel. Their shouts were starting to attract the attention of the other bar regulars, who thankfully seemed to take it in good humour. Some of them even hummed along.

When Alex got to the jukebox, it took everything not to roll her eyes. There was so much music better than Billy Joel on the list, but of course Maggie had gone for the bad songs. Alex clicked on a song from Garbage, and headed back to the pool table.

Maggie made a face when she got back. “What’s this? You can’t dance to it.”

“Garbage. I used to listen to it when I was a teenager.”

“I can tell. This is worse than Billy Joel.”

Alex picked up a new beer and pointed a warning at Maggie. “Hey, don’t diss Shirley Manson. Only Happy When It Rains is my jam!”

Maggie laughed. “Of course, it is.” She gestured to the pool table. “Do you know how to play this?”

Alex grinned, dipped her hand beneath the pool table and picked out a cue. She leaned on it. “Does a bear shit in the woods?”

++

Over the next two or so hours – it might’ve been longer, neither were keeping track – it proved that Alex was exceptionally good at pool and Maggie was exceptionally not. They were still laughing about it by the time the dive bar closed and they were out on the street again.

“I’m not programmed for it!” Maggie protested as she held onto Alex’s shoulder to stop herself from doubling over with laughter. “I’m supposed to look after people, not take their eye out with a wooden stick!”

“No shit! Maggie, you barely even managed to hit a ball!”

Maggie playfully swatted at Alex’s shoulder, pushing them away from each other. It was good that nobody could see them because they were messing around in the street like a pair of teenagers. They couldn’t stop laughing either, and were probably waking up the apartment complexes around them with the amount of noise they were making. Alex hadn’t felt her sides hurt like this in….she couldn’t remember how long.

Despite her laughter, Alex shivered. Dawn was going to be breaking soon, and it was always freezing in National City – be it summer or winter. A puff of air escaped between Alex’s teeth as she scrunched her face up from the cold. Maggie’s laughter faded and she linked one arm around Alex’s waist and the other held her hand. They walked like that for a few seconds, and Alex started to feel a warm presence spread all over her body. It was weird, like getting shots at school, seeping deep into her veins and making her feel nauseous. She stepped out of Maggie’s arm.

“Sorry, um…I just…feel a little funny.” She murmured. “Too much tequila.”

Maggie held up her hand. It was glowing a low, golden colour as if it were a child’s night light. “Don’t worry. It’s not you.” She grinned. “Internal heating. All part of the caring code.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “Yeah. It’s for cases of hypothermia and pneumonia, stuff like that. Warms people up without sending them into shock. I’m basically a hot water bottle on legs.”

Alex tried not to laugh at the thought of Maggie wobbling around with the weird clunky sound that hot water bottles make when they had too much water in them. She linked her arms with Maggie again, but this time didn’t walk on. Instead they just stood under the street light, looking straight at each other. The warmth returned and this time it felt a lot more pleasant, like she was getting a massage all over her body.

Maggie smiled when Alex did. “Feel better?”

Alex hummed. “Mhm, yeah. _Much_ better.”

“Good. We should head home.”

“Yeah.”

“You sound like you don’t want to.”

Alex shook her head. Maggie’s warmth was making her blush and overheat which wasn’t helping with the thoughts spinning around her mind like a carousel with lights and music blaring. She shook her head again. “No, I just don’t want this night to end.”

Alex’s hair had spilled in front of her face, covering her eyes and tickling her nose. Maggie reached up and brushed the curls behind Alex’s ear, her nails grazing Alex’s cheek ever so slightly.

“This is the best fun I’ve had in ages. Like, properly ages.” Alex continued. “I’ve been out with Kara before, but it’s not the same. I love Kara, I do, but just…”

Maggie’s finger had wrapped one of Alex’s strand around her nail. She was smiling at the touch and stroking it as if it were a string of golden thread. Her brown eyes gazed at Alex’s, and there was something in them that Alex didn’t recognise. When Maggie spoke, she spoke so softly and so quietly that Alex almost didn’t hear her:

“You don’t love Kara the way you love me.” She whispered. Slowly, slowly – as if she had all the time in the world – Maggie leaned up on her tiptoes and pressed the most tender of kisses to Alex’s lips. It was only a couple of seconds, but it felt like years to Alex. Maggie’s lips were soft, and warm, and fuzzy to the touch. Just like the rest of her. When Alex became cold again, she saw Maggie had pulled away and was still beaming up at her. “That was the end of that sentence, wasn’t it?”

Alex leaned forward and kissed Maggie again. When the gap was closed, and Alex felt that warmth on her lips, she wasn’t kissing a machine, nor an intricate pattern of wires and metal, but just… _Maggie._ Kind, adventurous, funny Maggie. Her fingers found the lapels of Maggie’s jacket, and they closed around it, pulling her forward. It wasn’t awkward, or weird, or anything remotely negative. Maggie returned the firmness of the kiss, rising up on her tiptoes to hold Alex closer by her waist and her neck. When Maggie’s tongue grazed Alex’s lower lip, Alex’s mouth opened and let it in. Maggie tried not to laugh at Alex’s eagerness, and was reminded not to when Alex pulled her in even closer.

The kiss had to break eventually, even if neither woman wanted it to. By the time it ended, both were a good deal more crumpled than when they’d started. Alex’s hair had fallen in front of her eyes again and Maggie’s jacket was off one shoulder, practically ripped from the ferocity Alex had grabbed it at.

They stood, only inches apart, breathless, in complete silence. Neither was sure what to say first, and so it ended up being that they both just burst into fits of laughter the moment one of them opened their mouths.

Alex felt like she was sixteen again, kissing Colleen Prewitt under the high school bleachers after prom. The rush, the taste of alcohol, the mindless dizziness that Alex could never place: she’d forgotten how much she’d missed it. It was one of the drugs she’d forgotten to be addicted to.

“Does it work?” She blurted out. “Can you feel it?”

“Yes.”

“What happens now then?”

They kissed again, and again, even though they couldn’t stop laughing. Alex didn’t know if Maggie understood why they were laughing, but in all honesty, she didn’t either. Everything felt good with Maggie, that’s all she knew.

“Should we go home?” Maggie finally asked. “Because we have to, at some point.”

“I wish we didn’t. We might not have any more nights like this.” Alex noted, her smile starting to fade as she remembered the impending meeting in a few hours. “The Luthors want something, and I know its to do with you. I just know it.”

Maggie squeezed Alex’s hand. Her smile had vanished too, but she seemed more concerned with Alex’s concern rather than her own safety. “It’ll be fine. It might not even be about me, who knows? Even if it is, they won’t get whatever it is they want.”

“How will you stop them?”

“I have you, don’t I?”

Alex’s heart lifted at the sentiment, but she knew she would be powerless against people like the Luthors. Yet, Maggie was convinced otherwise so Alex only sighed and linked her fingers with Maggie’s. They walked home in silence: happy to be alone and yet, alone together.

+++

By the time Alex woke up the next morning, her back felt stiffer than a plank of wood. The sofa, evidently, was not as comfy as it had once been. It wasn’t surprising – they’d had it for years – but Alex had had a little more hope than _that_. Maggie, as per usual, was unaffected by her upright position on the kitchen stool and as such, wasn’t tired or stiff at all. However, she’d ignored Alex for most of the two hours they’d been awake. Not nastily, just hadn’t exchanged words. Alex thought nothing of it.

Kara’s state would’ve been comical if it wasn’t for the interview lurking over them like a dark cloud. Her usually calm exterior had been thrown into as much chaos as her attempt at her ponytail. The glasses that usually sat on her nose had finger marks on them from where she’d constantly pushed them back up her face and then adjusted them again and again. Her hair, although pretty as always, had been let down and put back up again more times than Alex could count. Once she got it perfect, Kara would take it down again.

“It just doesn’t look right!” She complained as she fiddled with her shirt collar in the mirror. “That’s it, I’m changing the shirt again.”

Alex pulled on her boot. “Will you just leave it? Today is stressful enough without you freaking out.”

Kara glanced at her sister through the mirror, and noticed the outfit she was wearing. “Oh Alex! You can’t wear that! This is the Luthors we’re talking about. They’re the richest people in the city! You can’t just wear combat boots and a leather jacket to a meeting with their CEO.”

“I can, and I am, so get used to it.”

The blonde sighed. “I thought you’d wear something a little more…formal. You know, Maggie has to wear that stupid dress again – I thought you’d give her some solidarity.”

Alex rolled her eyes, and tied her second boot. “We’ll be fine like this.” She glanced up. “Is Winn up yet?”

“He’s going to meet us at LuthorCorp. Neighbour will be over to watch Mom in ten.” Kara replied, adjusting the hem of her blouse for the fourteenth time. She looked at it in the mirror, then turned her gaze to Alex again. “What do you think will happen? In the interview, I mean. Do you really think it’ll be something to do with Maggie?”

“I think it’s a weird coincidence that we get Maggie and suddenly LuthorCorp’s CEO wants to meet with us. The same family that were rivals of Mom and Dad when they were doing the whole synth project. If this really is just an interview, then I don’t see why they’d need both of us.”

“Do you think it’s safe? Bringing Maggie?”

Alex stood, grimacing slightly at the stiffness in her back. “No, but I think we have to. It’s more dangerous leaving her here.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Maggie is a one-of-a-kind synth. Who knows who’s out to get her? She’s safe when she’s with us, by our sides. I don’t want to leave her somewhere she won’t have anyone to defend her and –“

“I can defend myself.” Alex was cut off by Maggie stood in the doorway to Kara’s room.

She was wearing the blue dress again, along with the horrible flat shoes. Her eyes were still brown though: she needed help getting them out. Despite her old uniform having returned, Maggie was still Maggie and she stood with her arms folded unhappily. There was a glare in her eye of something that suggested she didn’t like being talked about behind her back.

“You don’t have to worry about me. Luthors or not, I can look after myself.” 

Kara, sensing the tension between the two, went back to her ponytail. Alex softened. “It’s not you I’m worried about, Maggie.” She approached and reached into Maggie’s folded arms to retrieve her hands. “It’s Mom. I don’t want some hit squad coming to snatch you and her getting in the way. She’s been through too much. She doesn’t need anymore stress than she already gets.”

Maggie gazed at their hands: held tenderly together and pressed up against their chests. She blinked. “Oh.”

“That’s not to say I’m not worried about _you_.” Alex reassured. “I’m just as worried about your safety as my mom’s.”

“I know.” Maggie nodded. There was a pause, and then it was like someone had pressed a reset button. Maggie inhaled sharply, raised her head, smiled, and then pointed to her eyes. “Give me a hand?”

Alex noticed the forced positivity in Maggie’s tone, but if Maggie wanted to refresh then she was only too happy to go along with it. She figured Maggie just didn’t want to think the worst of what was coming. Alex gently pried Maggie’s eyelids open and waited as she took the contacts out. The brown was replaced with green and for a second, the plastic Maggie had returned and all essence of her was gone. Of course, it was only for a second because Maggie gave another smile to show it was still her. In fact, she stood up on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on Alex’s lips. Kara spotted it in the reflection of the mirror, but said nothing. She only went back to her earrings.

++

“This is for you.”

“What the fuck are you wearing?”

It had taken the sisters five minutes to get from home to the base floor of LuthorCorp and they hadn’t said a word between them, and neither had Maggie. Winn was waiting for them, dressed head to toe in varying shades of black and grey clothing and a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. When they reached him, he produced something small and red in the palm of his hand. It was the hard drive that Sophie had made the night before. He put it in Alex’s pocket.

“What do I need this for?” She frowned.

“Figured it was safer to be on you rather than at your – oh. You’re not wearing disguises. I thought we were wearing disguises.”

Now, it was Kara’s turn to frown. “Why would we be wearing disguises? Lena knows who we are. Who would we even pretend to be?”

“I don’t _know_.”

“For gods’ sakes, Winn.” Alex huffed. She gestured to the gigantic skyscraper in front of them. “Let’s just get this over and done with, please.”

The sisters and Maggie (Winn stayed in the lobby) were ushered into Lena’s office by her synthetic assistant, who went by Jess. It was only Lena in there, and she was sat cross-legged in her chair when they came in. Their arrival didn’t seem to bother her, but then again, Alex had seen her on the news a few weeks back. Her public humiliation from planning to elope with her boyfriend had made news everywhere, and yet hadn’t fazed Lena in the slightest: at least not from Alex could see. She’d remained tight-lipped and blank-faced in front of the hordes of press that had shoved their headlines and cameras in her face. Alex thought her rather impressive.

Lena Luthor’s office was one of the nicest offices Alex had ever been in. If she had an office, she’d want it to look like Lena’s. With tall walls, huge floor-to-ceiling windows that stretched out onto views Alex had never seen before and Bauhaus-esque art installations that could only be worth more money than Alex could ever dream of earning. That being said, the art probably didn’t even make a dent on the cost of Lena’s outfit.

A painstakingly embroidered blazer adorned her shoulders, intricate patterns of dragons weaving up her lapels and breathing fire across her shoulders, down her arms, and ending in pink flowers at the cuff of her sleeve. Her white lace blouse was the same, ridiculously difficult sewing that depicted flowers all over Lena’s pale complexion as if she were an empty art canvas for the material to paint on. It was certainly a stark contrast to Alex’s second-hand jacket and god-knows-how-many-hand boots.

“Kara and Alexandra Danvers, yes?” Lena finally greeted, rising from her chair and offering her hand. Kara shook it.

“Just Alex is fine.” Alex replied, shaking Lena’s hand.

“Just Alex. Got it.” Lena had a charming smile that was friendly, but there was definitely something behind it: something Alex couldn’t put her finger on. The CEO turned her head to Maggie. “And you must be Maggie. My name is Lena Luthor.”

Maggie didn’t shake the outstretched hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Miss Luthor.” She answered in the old monotone-synth default.

“You can shake her hand, Maggie.” Kara gave permission, and Maggie obeyed.

“It’s nice to meet you all. I’ve heard good things.” There was an awkward beat. “Can I get any of you a drink? We’ve got bourbon…um…I believe Jess managed to find the good Bordeaux-“

Alex stepped out of Lena’s way as she made a bid for the drinks’ cabinet. “If it’s alright by you-“

“We’ve got gin too, uh, there’s strawberry, orange – did you say something?”

“If you don’t mind, can we just get down to whatever you wanted to talk to us about? I think we both know it’s not for any interview.” Alex answered calmly. “Plus, it’s a little early to be drinking, don’t you think?”

Lena straightened, and put on the smile that Alex had seen her do on the news. She shut the drink cabinet doors. “You don’t miss a trick, do you? I knew those good things I heard were true.”

Kara took one of the seats opposite Lena’s desk. Maggie took the one beside her. “What have you heard?” She asked quizzically, and Alex could hear the journalist intern in her voice.

“Well, Ms Grant speaks your praises. She says you’re one of the best interns she’s ever had.” Lena returned to her chair, and her green eyes flicked to Alex. “And you’re the eldest Danvers daughter. The prodigy college student. LuthorCorp keeps tabs on all their friends, past and present. That sounds a bit creepy, I know. Not my choice.”

“Your mother’s?” Kara pipped up.

“Yes.” Lena chuckled. “I can see why Ms Grant likes you, Kara. Your memory must be a very interesting notebook. I can almost hear you writing in it.” She laughed again at Kara’s slightly bashful expression. “Yes, it was my mother’s choice. She’s been keeping track of the Danvers ever since they parted ways with the Elsters. I wouldn’t really call the Luthors and the Danvers friends though, would you?”

Alex took the final seat. “I suppose not.”

“No. I wouldn’t call a family who rejected another’s ask for help friends.” Said Lena, a sharp bitterness now lacing her voice. The laughter was gone and had now been replaced with a hard, frosty exterior.

“What?”

“You don’t know?”

“Cut the shit and just spit it out.” Alex felt like she was on some weird little rollercoaster. Lena was doing this coy dance around her, and not doing it very well. One moment she was nice, the next she wasn’t. “What happened with the Danvers and the Luthors and the Elsters? Start from the beginning.”

Lena raised an eyebrow, glancing between the two sisters as if she was trying to figure out whether or not they were telling the truth. When their expressions came back blank, she sighed. “I would’ve thought your mother would’ve told you about this.”

“Our mother never talked about work with us.” Alex replied. “She liked to keep work and family separate.”

“I can see why.”

“What does that mean?” Kara looked fretful.

Lena’s green eyes darted between the sisters again, looking for any hint that they were deceiving her, but there was nothing. “The synthetic project was started to help people. You know, old people, busy people, lonely people…and sick people.” She glanced up, noticing their acknowledgement of her words. “Synths would look after people with dementia, cancer, all sorts of things. They’d be carers: people to administer healthcare and look after the unwell. Nurses without exhaustion, I believe Father put it. We funded the project, the Luthors. Paid for engineers, technology, locations, galas, even internships. The Luthors paid for it and the Danvers and the Elsters made it.”

After each and every sentence, Lena kept pausing. She was waiting for either Kara or Alex to chime in, or ask a question. It was as if she were waiting for the penny to drop, or some emotion to start, anything. But neither sister was saying anything.

“They had a problem in the fourth year. The synthetics were made, and they were perfect. Physically, technically perfect. I looked at the original plans myself: they couldn’t be any better. My mother wanted to start selling them out, releasing them to the public – but my father said otherwise. He thought there was something missing. Something wasn’t quite right about the synthetics, he said.”

“They didn’t have emotion.” Alex guessed.

Lena nodded. “They couldn’t feel. They couldn’t sit by the dying and hold their hand and tell them everything would be alright. They couldn’t be genuine companions to people who needed them – only robots. He didn’t think that was right. So, he asked the engineers to make the synths conscious: make them sentient. Then, they could be just like us. Living, thinking, feeling synthetics.”

“It’s impossible though, right?” Kara frowned. She did her best not to side eye Maggie sat beside her.

“Apparently not. If it were, Maggie wouldn’t be sat with us right now, would she?” Lena didn’t pause for shock effect. “I don’t know how your parents did it, but they managed it somehow. They created life, and true, human feeling. Feeling that Maggie here can feel right now.”

“You’re mad.” Alex retorted. “Maggie can’t feel anything more about you or anyone than she can looking at the watch on your wrist.”

It felt weird hearing those words roll off her tongue. It had only been a week since she’d believed them, yet it was like it were years ago. Maybe Maggie had changed Alex more than she’d thought.

Lena adjusted herself in her chair. “I’m not a mad woman. I don’t believe that Maggie – or my assistant Jess - is a human but I also don’t believe that she is an inanimate object that we, as humans, should be ashamed of having a connection with. We created these creatures. They walk and they talk and they look and they smell and they become part of our lives and families. They are as close to humans as can be, and yet still people insist that forming a relationship with them, or treating them with dignity, is somehow perverse. Well, we have created a grey area, Miss Danvers, we can’t keep insisting that they are just gadgets. They’re more than that. We’ve made them more than that, don’t you think?”

Alex wasn’t sure how to answer. “Um…”

“My father was diagnosed with a stage four glioblastoma two years after he told them that. Inoperable, apparently. Terminal. Lex and Mother had to run LuthorCorp, and I was still in school. None of his friends came to visit, and he wouldn’t let any of us see him in that state. The only friends he had were your parents. When they came to visit, he asked if they made a sentient synth. They said yes, can you believe it?” Lena was starting to wish she’d had that drink now. Frustration had built up in her throat, and was making her sound choked, and upset. “And do you know what else they said? Your parents and that Elster man? Go on, guess.”

Alex and Kara didn’t dare speak, and Maggie remained silent-unless-spoken-to between them. Lena exhaled, flaring her nostrils as she did.

“They said they were giving their wonder synth to _someone else_. Some engineer of theirs, Oscar Rodas. His sister was ill, not as ill as my father, but still the same outcome: she wasn’t going to be getting better any time soon. They told my father that this woman needed Maggie more than he did. The Danvers turned their back on him.”

Alex opened her mouth to reply, but in a strange turn of events, it was Kara that beat her to it.

“LuthorCorp earned four-hundred million dollars last year, and two billion the year the synth project launched on sales. Your family have more money than the world combined two times over – probably more than that.” She snapped. “You could make millions of conscious synths, and it wouldn’t even make a dent on your net worth. How could your father possibly be alone when he died?”

“Money can’t buy everything, Kara.” Lena replied hotly, but Alex could hear the sadness in her voice. It wasn’t anything profound, or heartbreaking, but it was evidently something to Lena judging by the occasional wobble in her words. “Don’t you think we should all have somebody with us when we go?”

“Of course but-“

Lena cut her short. “My father wanted a conscious synth with him when he died, that’s all he wanted. He left twenty billion in his will to the Danvers-Elster project for their service, so when they didn’t pull through, he changed it. That’s why you two are here.”

“Us?” Alex echoed. She glanced at Maggie. Somehow, without her, Kara or Lena noticing, Maggie’s foot was pressed up against Alex’s and every now and then, she kicked into the side of it. Alex wasn’t sure what she meant by it, but it was reassuring to know she was listening to the conversation. She would’ve zoned out by now. She was about to do it now if she wasn’t careful. “Why do you need us? We can’t repay what our parents did.”

“No, you can’t.” Lena replied in a tone that implemented a liking to Alex’s calmer nature. “I’d argue that accident your parents were in certainly saw to that. I don’t mean that as a morbid sense of justice, just so you know. I forgot to ask how your mother is.”

“She’s fine. More or less.”

“That’s good to hear. I mean that. Please, know I mean that sincerely.”

“What do you want with us? With Maggie?”

Lena adjusted her chair again. “LuthorCorp has been re-investing in new synth technology. Practically the same thing we did with the Danvers but…not the Danvers. My brother wants to try the synthetic project again, to introduce conscious synthetics to the world. However, we can’t access the Danvers’ past work because it was all sealed off when the companies split. We tried to retrieve Maggie, after your parents sent her to the Rodas family. Seeing as she’s technically LuthorCorp property, she was ours to take. It was only when the Rodas sister died three years ago that we caught her. Then, thanks to a fuck-up, she got away again and we’ve spent three years looking for her. Thankfully, she turned up with you, the Danvers. Our agent spotted her a couple of days ago and let us know.”

Maggie didn’t react to that bombshell. _Where had she been for three years? How had she survived? What sort of things had she gone through?_ Alex couldn’t help but feel an extra sense of protectiveness over the brunette. She didn’t want to think about what she’d gone through before Kara had found her.

“So, you need to look at what they did to make Maggie.” Alex managed. “Mom’s work journals don’t have anything like that in them, you can look yourself.”

Lena smiled. “We’re not going through your mother’s journals, Alex. We need the code on the hard drive in your pocket.”

Alex didn’t bother to ask how or why Lena knew of the hard drive and how it was in her pocket. “What are you planning on doing with it? Like, in the long term? When there’s millions of conscious synths, do they get the same rights as us, the people who created them?”

“What do you think?” Lena’s eyes flashed to Maggie, who remained staring ahead. “Do you think Maggie should have the same rights as us?”

“Of course. Only Maggie. There doesn’t need to be any more of her. The world doesn’t need conscious synths when we have enough problems of our own. I mean – _Jesus Christ_ – gay marriage has been around for…what? Five years? People are still being shot in the street and we’re trying to create synths that can think for themselves. We’re just making more of our own kind.”

“So, wouldn’t it be good to have a different kind of human?”

“No, because they’d turn out just like us. Hate-filled, vengeful cancers roaming the earth and killing us and their own.” Alex got out of her chair. “It’s a stupid idea, and we’re leaving.”

“My brother won’t give Maggie up.” Lena called after her. “Unlike me, he wants Maggie. All of her. She’s technically LuthorCorp property, and he wants her taken apart. Bits of her here, bits of her there.”

“No!” Kara took a protective hold of Maggie.

Alex paused in the doorway. “And you? What do you think?”

“Personally, I’d rather leave Maggie with you. Let her do some good in the world. I think its Lex’s little way of getting back at the Danvers. Destroy the one thing that made them famous. But I still want to expand the synth project, it’ll happen some day whether you cooperate or not. Conscious synths will become a part of our day to day life.” Lena looked between the three of them. “It’s up to you, really.”

What kind of question is that?, Alex thought. Future of humanity or Maggie’s safety? If Alex gave up the coding now, then god knows what she could release into the regular human world. But if she gave Maggie up, then she’d be facing that guilt alone. There’d be no Maggie, and the guilt of Maggie’s death would hang over her like a dark cloud. Completely alone. If they left now, Maggie could stay safe and they could be together. But the rest of the world would fall into more chaos than it already was in. Then again, Sophie had a copy. Alex’s brain worked, doing the maths. Sophie had helped them, and helped get a copy of Maggie’s code. Even if Alex gave Maggie over to Lex, Lena could still get the code. _Sophie_.

Alex turned. “Your agent. The one who found Maggie and told you, what’s her name?”

As if on cue, Jess opened the door and a familiar face stepped through it. Sophie looked different from last night. Her orange hair had been scraped back into a bun, a new pair of glasses sat upon her nose, and her hoodies had been replaced with a black blouse and pencil skirt. In her arms, a stack of folders that were all bulging at the ring. She didn’t acknowledge either sister’s shocked expression as she entered the room and set the folders onto Lena’s desk. Maggie was fighting to keep a straight face. Alex didn’t see why; it was obvious Lena knew and _of course_ Sophie did. The redhead leaned up against the desk.

“Sorry.” She muttered in a tone that sounded somewhat sincere.

“You-“Kara started. Her eyes looked like they were about to fall out of her head. “You lied to us.”

Lena rose from her chair and crossed back to her drinks’ cabinet. She poured out an orange gin, and gave it to Sophie. “It wasn’t anything personal, you should know that. She was doing her job.”

Alex’s blood felt like fire. “You’ve given us no choice. Either way, you’ve still got the sentient code and you’re still going to use it on your experiments.”

There was a long pause. A pin could’ve dropped and everybody would’ve heard it: nobody dared to speak. Maggie remained as still as a statue, as did everybody else in the room, possibly stiller. The only movement, finally, came from Lena. She poured herself a drink, and muttered into it:

“I did not bring you here for an interview, Alex, nor did I ask you here for Maggie’s unique coding. I knew Wilde already had it, and I know she gave you a copy. I don’t want that one either.”

“So, what do you want?” Alex was sick of Lena’s little mind games, her to-ing and fro-ing of endless will-she-won’t-she to make up her mind about god knows what. Did Lena even know what she wanted?

“I wanted to warn you.” She swallowed her drink, quick and hard. “I don’t know if you follow the Luthors media-wise, but both my brother and my mother are a great deal less…. _understanding_ than I am. They will not simply let you – well, Maggie – go. In their eyes, she’s an abomination. Brilliant, never-seen-before, but an abomination. They associate her with everything that happened. The project, the Elsters, the Danvers, Dad’s death – everything. They’ve wanted Maggie destroyed for years.”

She set her drink down, wincing slightly at the audible _clunk_ it made as it touched the varnished wood of the cabinet.

“I know we don’t each other, and I’ve got no reason to help you, but I can’t watch my family keep ripping families apart. They do it every day. They’ve done it to me, and countless others. I can’t keep watching it. I know we have differing views on the whole synth situation, but I do not wish you harm, Alex. Or you, Kara. Or you, Maggie.”

Maggie finally turned her head, but did not say anything.

“I just…I needed you to know it wasn’t _all_ the Luthors. Some of us have a heart.” Lena told them honestly.

Alex held out her hand, and Maggie stood, walked across the room and took it. Lena’s mouth twitched a smile that was gone quicker than it came. In fact, her expression of fear was on her features quicker than the smile had been.

“You should get out of the city. Out of the country in fact, just get far away from here. Lex knows you’re at this interview, so god knows what he’s got planned.” Lena walked over to Sophie’s folders and pulled out two. She handed one to Alex and the other to Maggie. Alex raised an eyebrow as she found a passport, a driving licence and other documents for someone with her face, but not her name. “I couldn’t get one for your whole family, not on such short notice. I can protect Kara, if she stays as an intern here at LuthorCorp. That way I can tell my mother I’m at least ‘keeping an eye’ on you all for suspicious behaviour. I can arrange for your mother to have a carer too, if Kara can’t be there all the time and you won’t be there at all. There’s enough money in there for you and Maggie to get away here.”

“This is crazy.” Alex muttered, bewildered but too speechless to say so. This was not what she expected of this _interview_.

“Lex won’t stop until Maggie is in pieces, Alex. You’re sitting ducks in this city. I’m surprised he hasn’t got to you or your family already.”

Lena Luthor was something else. Alex didn’t know if it was some sort of raging, personal guilt, a little revenge against her family for her elopement mishap or she was just trying to do right by someone for once in a Luthor’s life. Frankly, she didn’t care. If it got Maggie out of harm’s way –

“I can’t accept this.” Alex snapped the folder shut. Maggie did the same. “I can’t leave my mother, or my sister. All my family, my studies are here –“

Kara stepped forward. She looked strangely calm, as if the past twenty minutes hadn’t fazed her at all. Even her hair looked in place. She pushed the folder back towards her sister. The second her mouth opened; Alex cut her off:

“Don’t give me a speech on how you’ll be fine on your own, Kara. This is nuts! We’ve had Maggie for what, four days? I can’t just pack up and leave-“

“You can, and that’s exactly what you’re going to do. You can’t stay forever, Alex. Mom and I are only holding you back and no, no, I’m not taking arguments on that. Go with Maggie, look after her. She needs you more than we do right now. You two can do amazing things in the world, I know it.” She said determinedly. “This is all sudden, but we just have to roll with the punches.”

Alex didn’t know what to say. _When did her sister get so wise?_ She looked at Maggie, who hadn’t spoken at all. The synth was still holding Alex’s hand and when their eyes met, she nodded.

“I’m in if you are.”

Maggie squeezed her hand as tight as she could as if to say _I’m here, we can do this together._ Alex leaned down and kissed her, not caring what the others thought. Nobody reacted anyway.

“Then I’m in.”

Maggie opened the folders and took out their new lives. She glanced to Kara. “And you’re sure about this too?”

Kara nodded.

Maggie smiled and placed another kiss on Alex’s cheek. She squeezed her hand one more time. _ **“Then let’s start running.”**_

**Author's Note:**

> Helloooooo! I hope you enjoyed this somewhat crap fic. I immensely enjoyed working with Gabriela on this because how AMAZING is her art!??


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